


Bottoms with Attitude are Just Called Brats

by Madame_Marian



Category: Gintama
Genre: Alpha Hijikata, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Attempted Sexual Assault, Begging, Bottom Gin, Bottom Gintoki, Breeding, Collars, Dadtoki, Dubious Consent, Gags, Handcuffs, M/M, Momtoki, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Omega Gin, Omega Gintoki, Omega Verse, Oral Sex, Orgasm Denial, Possible Future Mpreg, Power Dynamics, Top Hijikata, not sure yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:14:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28482984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madame_Marian/pseuds/Madame_Marian
Summary: In a world where omegas aren't even classified as citizens due to their popularity as "pets" with the amanto upperclass, Gintoki thinks he's done pretty well for himself. He may not be raking in millions, and illegal black market suppressants might eat up most of his monthly salary, but the people he cared for were safe and he got to be with them, and that's what mattered.That is, until a major government crackdown on black market suppressants leads to his dealer exposing his true nature in a plea bargain. Now on the run and forced to leave behind everyone he holds dear, Gin will be forced to make a choice. Accept a mating of convenience with his rival to stay with his kids (because yes, they were HIS kids), or flee the country- to never return?
Relationships: Hijikata Toshirou/Sakata Gintoki
Comments: 47
Kudos: 288





	1. Chapter 1

If there was one thing in this world that Gintoki Sakata was absolutely sure of, it was that god hated him.

He had plenty of reasons to argue the point, but if he had to pick just one, he would say the fact that he had overcome the VAST odds stacked in his favor and somehow managed to have the rare misfortune of being born a male omega was a pretty big "fuck you" right from the heavens themselves.

It was a shitty enough sentence in life back when he had first presented, omegas usually being sold off to the highest bidder the second they were of age (or worse, earlier). That being said, while there sure as hell weren't any laws protecting omegas, if, like Gintoki, you happened to be a powerful freak of nature, there weren't any laws telling you what to do with your life either, which had suited him just fine.

Still, when the amanto had finally won the war, he'd been just stupid enough to hope things might get better. Most amanto don't have second genders, after all. At the worst, he'd thought, they would have no interest in humans abusing other humans at all, and things would stay exactly the same as they were before.

He had been very, very wrong.

Turns out, to the amanto, who already thought of humans as an inferior, less evolved species, the idea of humans with "built-in" subservient instincts was incredibly appealing. Before he knew it, omega humans were the top trending pet of choice for upper class amanto, and even some circles of humanity. As the popularity of the "trend" increased, he watched as omega rights were stripped away faster than he'd ever imagined possible. Finally, less than two years from the end of the war, one day he'd woken up to no longer even being considered a citizen at all.

All around him, unclaimed omegas were taken and put up for auction, and claimed omegas were "registered" into government archives with their status. The intensity of the laws varied city by city, and even district by district, but even then it became rare to find a place omegas were even allowed outside without an alpha or beta "escort", usually their mate.

All the omegas, except for Gintoki.

Omega suppressants were hard to find and extremely illegal for an omega to purchase- after all, it wouldn't do any good for uptight alphas everywhere if their mates had _bodily autonomy._ They were even more illegal to get outside of an "omega store". And they ate up about 80% of Gin's monthly income. As far as Shinpachi and Kagura were aware, all that money disappeared into the night at pachinko, which suited him just fine.

The kids didn't know he was an omega.

The Shinsengumi didn't know he was an omega.

 _No one_ could ever know that he was an omega.

Well, that wasn't quite true. The Joui four all knew, they had helped him hide it after all, and the Joui doctor now turned his suppressant dealer knew, and he doubted the old lady didn't have her suspiscions, but aside from that, no one could know. The last thing Gintoki Sakata was going to be was some insecure alpha's trophy broodmare. Besides, he already had two pups, and that was more than enough. Yes, all in all he'd done pretty well for himself thus far.

Frowning, he dropped his weekly jump and let it slam to the floor with a thud. Years of sweat and pain and lies had got him here, where he was safe, and these kids who depended on him were safe.

"-so you say 100 unclaimed omegas have been apprehended just this week alone?"

"103, to be specific!" The cute beta reporter responded cheerily. Why wouldn't she? It wasn't her freedom on the line. "Of course, this was all made possible by the crackdown on black market suppressants, after a mismade batch caused general police chief, Matsudaira's daughter to fall horribly ill!"

"Ah yes, I had heard about that," the show host responded with a showy expression of concern on his face. "How repulsive of these dealers, taking advantage of our most vulnerable."

"Thankfully, the government seems to feel the same way! 30 major dealers in the scene have been arrested just thus far!"

"No kidding?"

"Yep! They're being offered reduced prison time for each omega contact they help turn in, too."

"I'm sure they must all be relieved to finally be in safe hands. Omegas without an alpha are said to live in a constant state of anxiety, you know."

Yes, because clearly it's not like they're the ones that chose to take the suppressants or anything, he thought with a roll of his eyes. Around him Shinpachi vacuumed cheerfully, none the wiser to his "alpha" employer's growing distress. Surely, he thought, surely, the universe didn't hate him enough for _his_ one suppressant dealer out of thousands to be one of the ones arrested. After all, Tanaka was a pretty powerful guy by this point. Surely, _surely_ he had some kind of protection when it came to these things.

"That's true! And some of these omegas they're finding- some of them are even in their thirties, unmated! I can't even imagine."

"And what is this footage rolling on the screen right now?"

"These are all dealers that have been arrested in connection with the dealing of black market suppressant. If you suspect anyone you know to be a secret omega, and know that they are in contact with any of the people shown here, please call 1-800-"

Gintoki stopped listening. There on-screen, being loaded into the back of a police car, was a face that he knew all too well.

"Gin-san? Gin san!?"

"Wha-" Gin shook his head and coaxed himself reluctantly back to this plane of existence. He needed to move- fast. "Yeah, Pachi-boy?"

"Can you lift your feet? I need to vacuum there and-"

"Don't worry about it, Pachi-boy," he sighed, rising to his feet. "I was just about to head downstairs for a drink anyways."

"At 3 in the afternoon?" the boy questioned with judgment, but not surprise.

"You know what they say Shinpachi," he drawled, walking lazily to the front door, "It's 5 o'clock somewhere."

He shot the boy one last look over the corner of his eye, as he went about his usual business. He swears, alphas are wasting their time trying to get a perfect little omega housewife when the world was full of perfectly good, consenting Shinpachis. Oops, he meant betas- whatever. Shinpachi was as beta as they come anyways. His nose was so dull he couldn't smell an omega in heat through a paper door. Even if he was on suppressants, it didn't get much more beta than that.

Closing the door behind him a bit more gently than usual, he meandered down the wooden steps that had become such a regular part of his life, and through the snack house doors. Inside the tv was playing on the same talk show segment he'd had running upstairs, now moved on to some inane nonsense about Otsu's newest single, and behind the bar Otose shot him a sharp look.

"Hey granny, why don't you pour me a drink on the house?"

"And why exactly should I enable the day drinking habit of my rent thief tenant?" She asked, already pouring him a drink anyways.

"Even you've gotta take pity on a guy sometimes, granny," he complained, taking a seat and tossing back the shot in one fluid motion. "It's been a rough day here."

She scoffed. "You haven't even left the house, slacker."

Above them, an argument breaks out between Kagura and Shinpachi, who apparently had the audacity to throw out some expired kombu, followed by a racket as Shinpachi is undoubtedly put in his place for messing with Kagura's food supply.

"If she throws him through the floor again, you're paying for it," she said, taking a puff of her cigarette.

"Tch. Those young people have no respect for their mother and the things he does to provide for them," he complained with no real malice. As much as he liked to play off calling himself their mother as tongue in cheek, he would admit to no one that some small part of him enjoyed it. No matter what else happened, these were _his_ kids, and he'd do whatever it takes to keep them safe.

"Yes, you would know all about being ungrateful wouldn't you, you rent theif."

"I'll pay it some day, ya old hag," he sighed, knocking back a second cup of sake. With a sigh, he paused, and looked out the window. To an outside observer, he must have looked to be very invested in watching the people passing on the street. Gin had never been very good at expressing himself, not when for so much of his life being vulnerable had never been safe. But Otose always seemed to get what he was going at anyways.

"Who knows what they would do without me." Otose took a long drag of her cigarette, watching him with calculating eyes.

"Probably become upstanding citizens without your negative influence." He barked one laugh.

"You'd make sure of that, wouldn't you?" He said like it was an accusation and not the question that it was. "You'd turn them into stuffy bores who work respectable jobs and pay rent only a week late every month."

"Pah," she answered, lacking much of her usual bite, "they'd do more than that, they'd pay it on time." Above them they heard the tell-tale sounds of a pair of feet shuffling up the stairs, and a knock on the odd job's door.

"Hey perm-head! Stop abusing your employees and open up so we can all get on with our day!" Hijikata called above them. Gin snorted. So he got rat out that fast, huh? If words were all that mattered here he was sure he could get out no problem, but he knew what that weasel Tanaka knew. And there was no way their amanto-corrupt government was letting the possibly omega Shiroyasha off without at least a blood test. He tried not to let it sting that this meant he couldn't say goodbye to Shinpachi and Kagura.

"Stupid tax thieves," he muttered, pushing back from the bar. "I'm gonna use the back exit, okay Granny?"

"Whatever." She allowed, snuffing out her cigarette butt. "And Gintoki?" She called to his retreating back. "Don't forget to come back and pay your rent, you slacker."

He smiled, but didn't quite turn all the way around.

"In your dreams, Granny." And with that, Gintoki Sakata was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Hijikata thought the strict laws against omegas were just about one of the stupidest things in the universe, behind maybe the yorozuya trio and the old man when his daughter was involved.

Which, coincidentally, was exactly the reason they were in the mess they were at the moment.

Yesterday him and his team had apprehended a man named Satoshi Tanaka for dealing in illegal omega suppressants, a feat that would have normally been impossible considering his high connections. Unfortunately for him, the old man was ranked even higher than any of them, and so he had been dragged into custody amidst a swarm of media frenzy. As the rich and connected always do, he had weaseled himself into the sweetest plea bargain of them all thanks to some petty but powerful amanto. As long as his information was good, he would walk free with nothing more than a fine that he had more than enough money for and go back to living his same privileged lifestyle, sleeping soundly on the fact that his freedom meant dozens in chains.

Hijikata sighed as he opened the door to the interrogation room, torn between being irritated because with the outlandishness of the man's claims he _had_ to be full of shit, or being irritated because if they weren't the weasel was gonna be rewarded for throwing innocent people under the bus like it was nothing. Still, there was no way what he said was true. There was just no way in hell that _the Shiroyasha_ was a fucking omega. Unfortunately, Tanaka had been a doctor for the Joui during the war, so if there was anyone left who knew the true identity of the legendary Shiroyasha (besides blatant criminals like Katsura Kotaro and Takasugi Shinsuke, of course), it would be him. And there were _plenty_ of amanto who would love to see the Shiroyasha relegated to the position of some wealthy bastard's bitch.

"I'm gonna remind you one more time that if you're giving us false information, Tanaka, we can and will _add_ time to your sentence, ya got that?" The famed Demon Vice-Chief sighed, plopping down reluctantly across the table from the human weasel. He was a mousy beta with a nose too big for his face and hair that looked inexplicably unwashed for someone so wealthy. He already hated him.

"Of course, officer, I would never dream of it," he said, as though he hadn't dealt several millions of dollars of drugs over the past few years.

"Right. So, who is he? The legendary Shiroyasha you claim to know so much about."

"Oh, you're pretty familiar with him, 'Demon Vice-Chief'. Amazing how far lying and acting like a lazy oaf for years can get you. I dare say you never had a clue- though, to be fair, he was on just about the strongest suppressants money can buy." He said with an air of pride.

"What the hell are you going on about, huh, weasel?" Of course, he had discovered the yorozuya's status as the legendary swordsman back during the Tetsunosuke incident, but that was classified information so long as he continued not to involve himself with rebel activities. If this man were to correctly identify Gintoki as the shiroyasha, then he would be claiming that _Gintoki,_ Gintoki 'pick a fight every time he sees Hijikata's face' Sakata, Gintoki 'I would rather have my dick replaced with an electronic toothbrush than leave this dentist appointment before Hijikata' Sakata, was an omega. Hijikata had never heard anything more outlandish in his life.

"The true name of the legendary 'Shiroyasha' which you all hold in such high regard is none other than the yorozuya of Kabuchiko," he said, flashing a cruel smile, "Gintoki Sakata."

"Like hell!" he countered, slamming his palm to the table as he rose with nearly enough force to knock his chair back. "That arrogant bastard's one of the most disgustingly alpha people I've ever met!"

The man merely smirked. "Feel free to say that now, Vice-Chief, but the tests will show the truth. That is, if you can apprehend him at all."

"Pah!" Hijikata dismissed, marching towards the door, "Like hell."

"Oh, and Vice-cheif!" The man called out one last time. Hijikata paused in the open door frame. "He should be out of pills in, oh, a couple days at best. He'll be in heat within the week, so I'd suggest you find him soon."

"Tch. C'mon, Sougo," he commanded the officer waiting by the door with a bored expression. "We're arresting the Yorozuya."

"Danna?" Sougo inquired, trailing after Hijikata in a way someone who didn't know better would almost describe as obedient. He spared a glance to the man they'd arrested through the gap in the closing door, and knew immediately that he was untrustworthy. Surely Danna would have known the same, if he were an omega? The yorozuya may play at lazy, but he didn't take uneccesary risks either. "That kingpin said that _Danna_ is an omega?"

"Yeah I know it's bullshit too, but you know how the higher ups get about these things. We'll have to bring him in for a blood test to get him cleared, hopefully the promise of sugar at the end will be enough to keep that perm-head from whining the whole time."

"I don't know, Hijikata," the younger alpha brought a hand to his chin in thought. "I agree that Danna doesn't act much like you'd expect from an omega, but I don't see what that weasel man would get out of lying. And I've always thought it was weird that you could never really get a clear smell off of him."

"Don't tell me that you seriously believe that asshole could really be an omega, though? Maybe a beta with an alpha complex, but I've never seen that perm-head submit to anybody else's will in his life."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough, won't we?" Sougo admonished, climbing in front up the set of stairs to the yorozuya apartment. Inside there was clearly some internal dispute happening that the thin front door did little to hide, though the combined screaming of both parties made it impossible to deduce what about. All around, seemed pretty normal for the Sakata residence.

"Hey perm-head! Stop abusing your employees and open up so we can all get on with our day!"

There was a half second pause and an ensuing argument over who had to answer the door. There was one final crash, followed by a silence, and then the slow trudge of defeated footsteps.

To no one's surprise, Shinpachi reluctantly slid open the door. A chunk of wood from who knows what part of the house still rested in his hair. "How can we help you, Hijikata-san?"

"We just need to arrest the sugar perm for a bit to clear up a false accusation, that's all. Is he in?"

"Oh, sorry he just stepped out- what kind of false accusations exactly?"

"Don't even worry about it kid, some rich bastard looking for a get out of jail free card decided to claim that he was an omega. You know how it's been recently."

" _Gin_ , an omega?" Shinpachi exclaimed. "That's impossible," he laughed, "there's no way he's not an alpha."

"You mean he never mentioned it to you?" Sougo asked.

"Huh, now that you mention it, I guess it never came up," he responded thoughtfully. "Well, my nose has always been worse than most. I'd ask Kagura, but the Yato don't have second genders so she can't actually smell them."

"Well that's not very helpful," Hijikata sighed. "Does the permhead at least have a hairbrush or something? Maybe if we test his hair and that doesn't show anything fishy we can talk the superiors into just letting it go."

"Sure, I'll go grab it! You two can step inside if you'd like," the boy allowed, ducking into the small bathroom by the home's entrance. He didn't bother to shut its door behind him, so they watched as he dug through the bathroom's basket with growing frustration.

"I can't seem to find it- oh!" His expression relaxed. "He was getting fed up with Kagura borrowing it this week ever since she broke hers, he probably just hid it under one of the floor boards!"

"The floor boards?"

"Yeah, he thinks we don't notice but he hides things under them all the time. The building's old so they're pretty loose, but it's usually just cash and porn mags," he was crawling around the bathroom floor now, gingerly checking each board. "I didn't know he a hiding spot in here too though- oh! Here it is!"

Thank god, Hijikata thought. At least now he could go home.

"Huh? What's this?"

Hijikata froze, and he felt Sougo beside him do the same.

"Pills?"

"Let me see those, Shinpachi."

The beta narrowed his eyes. he wasn't positive why yet, but he felt like he'd uncovered something that he shouldn't have. He clutched the bottle a little closer to his chest. "Why?"

"Don't bother, boy, we already know what those are. We confiscated hundreds of them just this morning." Hijikata pressed his palm to his forehead like it might push the stress out too. "They're omega supressants. As I keep being reminded- some of the best on the market."


	3. Chapter 3

By the time the sun set, Gintoki was three towns away from Edo towards the shady side. While his pills should keep him safe for a couple days yet, if he didn't get more before then he'd almost certainly go into heat, which would leave him fucked both metaphorically and physically. No, that was out of the question. He needed to find pills tonight or the night after at the latest, no other option.

As he wondered down less and less populated streets in search of an alley marked for omega suppressants, he cringed internally at the thought of how light his wallet was. He might have to settle for less than a month's supply, but that was better than nothing. After he had that sorted, he'd find some way to contact Zura and Tatsuma to see if either one of them could get him out of the country.

Wrinkling his nose, Gintoki found it. The whole entryway of this alley reeked of alpha sex pheremones just strongly enough that it couldn't have possibly been unintentional, but not strong enough that a beta or alpha would notice if they weren't looking for it. Since those specific pheremones were intended to appeal to omegas, alphas tended to have a difficult time smelling them, if they could at all. And betas noses were just weak, leaving omegas left as just about the only group that would notice such light to moderate scenting.

Huffing at the indignity of having to walk through such a revolting smelling frame, Gin pulled the collar of his already high necked shirt up a little higher. Given the hour, there was almost sure to be someone manning the spot already, and if there wasn't, there would be soon unless the dealer had been busted. There was barely any light that reached into the back of the alley, and the nearest street light that was the only provider of light crackled. As it flickered, it made the shadows on the walls flash at an uneven pace, and for not the first time in his life, Gin was very grateful that he knew how to fight. If he were a normal omega, to end up in a place like this- you'd have to be desperate.

Not like he wasn't, of course.

"Hey," a male voice calls out just as Gintoki smells him. "You lost, beta?"

"Hey now," the silver haired man drawled. This dealer was clearly a beta, as most of them were, but something about his vibe seemed just as scuzzy as the alley way. He found himself hoping silently that he wasn't the type to try and weasel sexual favors out of desperate omegas in exchange for suppressants. "I'm gonna start questioning the quality of your supply if you've never met an omega who can actually pass as a beta before."

"Tch." The man scoffed, already moving further into the alley's shadows, "It's not like I'm gonna be the one to announce that I'm selling drugs sweetie, and especially not what you're looking for."

Gin kept silent, sizing the man up from behind as he followed him deeper into the darkness. Though his words were harsh and slangy, he carried himself in the same oddly rigid way all of the shinsengumi did even on their days off. Possibly an ex-samurai turned dealer, he decided. Certainly an asshole, if he went around calling all omegas sweetie.

"How much for a month's?" Gin asked once they were safely hidden from the front of the alleyway.

"A month's supply? In this market? You're lucky to find two weeks right now, pal- but, lucky for you, I have just that," the dealer bragged, bringing out what he could tell from the dim light was a small bottle of pills. "Might not be as quality as what you're on right now, but as long as you find somewhere to hole up for your heat and don't get too close to anybody, no one should notice a thing."

Gin narrowed his eyes. "For how much?"

"Hmm. For you since you're a first time customer, we'll do half off... how about 12,000 yen?"

"12,000!? C'mon man, do you know how much strawberry milk that could buy! I could buy enough strawberry milk to piss pink for that kind of money!"

"You don't even have that? Sheesh, you really are shit out of luck aren't you, honey."

Gin grit his teeth. No one ever called "beta" or "alpha" Gin "sweetie" or "honey". Before, knocking the guy out and stealing the pills had been low on the plan list, but he was starting to reconsider now. He'd have to do it without causing a commotion, and he wouldn't be able to come back to this dealer if he ran out again before he could get out of Japan. Still, he was way stronger than this clown, and, on a much more personal level, he pissing him off so maybe-

"You know what? I kinda feel bad for you. Here, I'll let you have these for however much is in your wallet right now if you do a couple of odd jobs for me."

"Odd jobs?" He broke out of his murderous thought parade to ask with cautious optimism. As long as they weren't sexual or harmful to others, he could manage that.

"Yeah, or well, for my grandma more like. See grandpa died earlier this year, and running the inn by herself's been tough on the old lady. Help her out for the week and she'll give you a place to stay, plus the deal on the suppressants."

Gin quirked his brow. That was a suspiciously generous offer from a man who practically oozed 'if I got a position of power I'd abuse it within an hour' kinds of energy. "That's it?"

"Yeah well, she's an omega herself so I don't like leaving her alone up in the mountains with betas and alphas. You know how it is," He explained, holding out the bottle towards Gin like it was no big deal.

Slowly, the omega in hiding raised his hand to accept. He glanced at the bottle for a moment as though holding it closer would help him be able to tell whether it was fake or not. While it was a problem he'd never had to worry about with Tanaka, since the suppressants most undercover omegas were getting a hold of weren't regulated, there wasn't any one particular way that the pills 'should" look. It made spotting fakes nearly impossible without digesting them, and didn't have the knowledge or the resources to find out any other way.

Once he had the pills in hand, he changed the trajectory of the hand that may or may not have been reaching for his lake Toya earlier to grab his wallet, and reluctantly fished out all of the bills from inside. Done- he was safe for two weeks, and he had no money. At all. Shit.

"It's the ryokan up settled into that mountain," the beta explained, pointing to the mountain face looming over the entire city, "Can't miss it. Just tell her that Ryuji sent you."

Still hesitant, Gin nodded. "...Thanks."

Tucking the pills into the sleeve of the properly worn half of his yukata, Gin left the shadows first, ignoring the unsettled feeling urging him to look behind him all the while.


	4. Chapter 4

Back at the Odd Jobs residence, the yorozuya children and the two shinsengumi officers sat in silence on the Odd Job's couch for what felt to Hijikata like an eternity.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Kagura admonished, "So Gin-chan likes it in the ass? He's still just Gin-chan."

"It's not that simple, Kagura-chan." Shinpachi clenched the fabric around both of his knees in a fist. "Omegas aren't even legally considered citizens anymore. If he gets caught, Gin won't be able to stay with us anymore! They'll sell him into slavery, he'll be some amanto's prized pet!"

"Gin-chan would never let that happen!"

"If he goes into heat, he won't have much of a choice." Hijikata sighed, burying his face in his hands. How did this situation get so messy?

"What the hell's that supposed to mean, tax thief," she demanded, swinging the tip of her trusty umbrella to rest just over the man's heart.

"Oi, don't point that thing at me, brat!" Hijikata protested, pressing himself further into the back of the couch to put some distance between himself and this barbaric girl and her death weapon.

"I think you should stop avoiding China's question, eh Hijikata?" Sougo mocked, a dark smirk gracing his face.

"If you had just waited ten seconds before resorting to violence I would've gotten to it anyways!"

"Then _get_ to it!"

"I'm _saying,"_ he began, brushing the umbrella aside from his face, "That without his suppressants, chances are Gintoki's gonna go into heat some time in the next couple of days, and once that happens he'll have no way to hide. He'll-" He paused for a bit, knowing that what he was about to say would be upsetting for the Odd Jobs kids. Still, it had to be said. "If he goes into heat, he'll end up raped, arrested, or both within the day."

"No! Gin-chan 's way too strong for that!"

"It's true, Kagura-chan," Shinpachi admitted solemnly. "It's almost impossible for an omega in heat to resist an alphas command, especially if the alpha and omega genes, respectively, are strong in both people. And it's almost impossible for an omega to hide their smell, not unless they're in a room that's specifically designed for it."

"And you're all just gonna let this happen to Gin-chan!?" She accused, whirling around to ensure that all three men got an equal dose of her wrathful stare. "Well, maybe that's how things work on this backwater planet, but we yato don't have second genders, so I guess he'll just have to come live with us."

She huffed, turning heel and marching towards the door.

"Wait, Kagura-chan, where are you going!"

"To find Gin-chan!" She yelled, not bothering to turn back.

"Hold on, China!" Sougo called, reclined back on the couch like he was very pleased with the shit he was about to start. "There is one way we can help Danna!"

Her hand froze on the door handle. Turning her head slowly, she shot the sadist a suspicious glance. "What."

On the couch beside him, Hijikata was throwing Sougo a wary glance as well. There wasn't anything they could do to cover up this one, not when the Shiroyasha was involved. Just what exactly was he planning? The only way to get the perm head out of this mess at this point would be to either start an entire revolt to destroy the government, which he sure wasn't willing to do, or if-

"If he mates to an alpha before someone else gets a hold of him, then he'll be in their possession- as in, he can't legally be taken to auction any more."

"Gin-chan would never agree to that!" She protested, the dangerous stomp of her foot sending the walls rattling. "No one is allowed to own him!"

"And just who the hell would we find to mate him anyways?" Hijikta chimed in. "The only alphas we know are Katsura who, again, is a _terrorist,_ no matter how buddy buddy the two of them may be, Kondo-san, Sougo, and me!"

All three other parties eyes locked onto him with a flat expression.

A silence fell over the room.

"Oh nooo no no," Hijikata said, waving his hands in protest. "Absolutely not, no way."

"But Hijikata- _san,_ " Sougo began, "After Danna's helped us out so many times? The thorny arc was barely two weeks ago. Don't tell me you've forgotten."

"He threw Tetsunosuke off the roof!"

"Pft, it's not like your mayonnaise breath was gonna catch you a girlfriend any time soon anyways," Kagura agreed.

"Please, Hijikata-san!" Shinpachi exclaimed. "You're the only alpha we can trust to let him live his life freely!"

"I don't- I just-" the vice-chief sputtered, wishing desperately that he had a cigarette right now. How, he wondered for the millionth time that day, did he end up in such a mess? To make matter worse, he was pretty sure his entire face was _blushing._

"Please!" The Odd Jobs boy threw himself to the ground in a full body bow with a thud. Tears were dripping from his shaded eyes and staining the floor beneath him drop after drop. "I'm begging you."

Shit. He was really starting to feel guilty now. "Listen kid, it's not just that easy-"

"I know." The boy looked up, revealing a determined gaze hidden behind the tears. "I know we're asking you for a lot. I know Gin would hate it if he knew that we had asked you. He probably left without saying a word because he doesn't want us to worry about him. But- this time, I'm going to be selfish. So I ask you, selfishly, for the favor of all favors. Please bring Gin-san back to us safely!"

"I-" he sighed. As much as he protested, they were right. It was the only way, and for all his talk, the man had risked his life to help the shinsengumi on more than one occasion. Besides- even Hijikata didn't hate the man enough to leave him to that fate. "I'll... do it," he conceded.

"Really!?' The kids exclaimed in unison, moving in closer with hope shining in their eyes.

"Pah!" He scoffed, pointedly looking towards the ceiling. "I guess even that bastard doesn't deserve to be some bitter amanto's 'pet' for the rest of his life."

"Thank you Hijikata-san!"

"Thank you Mayora!"

The Odd Jobs kids both instantly brightened.

"Alright alright!" He dismissed, gesturing for them to move back some. Now he _knew_ his whole face had to be pink. "We still have to find the bastard first though."

"No problem!" The girl asserted with a cocky grin. "Sadaharu can sniff out his favorite chew toy anywhere!"

"I don't see how that's relevant to finding Gintoki."

"Gin-san _is_ Sadaharu's favorite chew toy, Hijikata-san."

Of... course he is. Just what kind of family was he mating into here?

"Aah, I'm very impressed, Hijikata-s _an,_ " Sougo mocked, "You found a wife after all. Kondo-san will be thrilled. Tell Danna to take out a nice life insurance policy on you, wouldn't want him to be homeless after I become Vice-Chief."

"Tch, he'd probably thank you for his freedom." It wasn't legally required for omegas to be taken back to auction if their alpha died, as long as there was a will left behind stating who's care the omega was left to. While Hijikata had to imagine this had led to at least a couple omega on alpha murders over the years, most alphas, and indeed people in general, thought of omegas as inherently harmless, so he had no doubt that many if not all likely got away with it.

With on last sigh for the road, he rose to his feet and started towards the door. "Lets go find the ungrateful bastard."


	5. Chapter 5

Gin's eyes bored into the pill in his hand, scanning for anything to imply that it was a fake. Not, he supposed, that there was much he could do about it anyways if it was. At best he had mediocre suppressants to keep the heat away, and more likely than not he'd bet he had sugar pills. Worst case scenario they were heat inducers and this was a trap set up by some trafficking ring or another, but the old lady who owned the place did turn out to actually be an omega, which eased his suspicions ever so slightly. Still, he wouldn't really rest until the pills had had the time to prove themselves capable of hiding his unfortunately rather powerful scent.

The owner was a gentle smelling omega with a small hunch in her back and a face decorated with a smattering of sun spots. He had told her that Ryuji sent him like the beta dealer had said to do, and felt a twinge of his caution leave when a sympathetic look immediately crossed her wrinkled face. She said she was about finished for the night, but that he could always start tomorrow and to go on ahead to bed. The room she led him to was functional, if not pretty, with a western style bed sat in the far corner. He noted the room was oddly deprived of windows, but other than that nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. Besides, he assessed, the one window that was there would still work to squeeze out of in a pinch if need be.

She didn't pry into how he got there, but insisted that as long as he worked his share, he could stay as long as he wanted. Apparently she had seen all of the omega crackdowns on the news and was glad to help out her fellow omegas in any way she could. Gin had thanked her for the offer before shutting the door between them, even though he knew he wouldn't be taking it. Even if he hadn't been a particularly high profile target, something about the whole situation still didn't sit right with him, despite her kind words. Something about the way her smile didn't quite reach her eyes made it look... practiced. He supposed the wasn't too out of the ordinary for someone in the service industry, but it was still uncanny.

He moved to hold the pill to the light, looking for any possible way to tell _something_ about its contents. It was blue, round, a little smaller than his pinky nail, and none of that information told him shit about it. Still, it wasn't like he a choice.

"Here goes nothing," the omega sighed, tossing back the pill with a dry swallow. "Nothing to do but wait."

Looking around the room and finding the lack of tv pretty much meant a lack of anything for him to do, he shrugged. Guess it was time for some shut eye, or what little of it he could find that night. Yawning, the man stripped down to just the yukata, since he didn't quite feel secure enough to sleep in the buff just yet, and hopped into the shockingly soft bed. As he waited for sleep to take him, he found his thoughts drifting to the kids he'd left behind, who probably just thought he was passed out somewhere on a drinking binge again. Gone, but coming back soon enough. He always came back to them after all.

Frowning, Gin rolled to his other side, as though the motion would shake all the sentimental thoughts away. God, he was being such an omega, wasn't he? He just couldn't help it- he knew he didn't deserve them, that he was a bad influence in a million ways, but somehow those kids had become his world. Even now, ever fiber of his being was screaming at him to go home and hold them tight. He knew they could take care of themselves, but he still wanted to be near them, to personally make sure that they were safe every step of the way, preferably forever.

He rolled over again back to the original side. He would just have to have faith in his kids. He knew that if they ever met again, no matter what, he would be proud of them. He _was_ proud of them. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. And... it was really kind of hot in here. He flung the covers back, leaving himself exposed to the cool air of the room. It was cool. He knows it was. It was when he got here. It just... didn't feel very cool right now.

With a twisting feeling in his gut, Gintoki bolted to sitting position. Slowly, he found his eyes drifting to his haori and scarf that lay discarded on the ground. He was hot, yes, sweltering really, but for some reason he kind of... wanted them? Not to wear, just... to have. Perhaps. In some kind of... 'u' formation? By the pillows?

He shot a deadpan stare off into space. Oh no no. This couldn't be happening, not to him. The only way he could be going into heat right now was if he had taken-

"...an inducer." Gintoki accused, baring his teeth just as the door to his room slid open.

"Well well," the alpha voice purred, "What bitch was unlucky enough to throw back a double strength heat inducer?" The alpha, a plain looking but rather large man, whistled as his eyes came to rest on Gintoki. "A pretty one. Grow that perm out and you'd earn some nice bids."

Knowing he didn't have the time to waste, Gin moved to dive at the man bare-handed without grabbing his trusty wooden sword. He needed to knock him out before he could issue a command, or else, if the alpha was powerful enough, he'd be helpless.

"Stop!" The alpha's voice boomed, Gin's fist just inches away from his face. Against his will he felt his body tense, but the momentum of his jump meant that even frozen he managed to land a solid punch right to the man's nose. The man tumbled to the ground and Gin lie frozen half on top of him. Desperately he squeezed his eyes open and shut like trying to shake off sleep in the morning. He needed to shake the command off before the bastard recovered enough from the punch to make another one. He felt the broad chest beneath him rumble with a predator's growl. His every hair stood on end.

 _No, no,_ the word ran on repeat in his head.

"Stay still, bitch!"

The fingers he had progressed to being able to twitch around froze. Gintoki's inner dialogue picked up frequency. _No, no, shit, no._ How had he been so stupid? Below him, he felt his assailant's weight shift and next thing he knew their positions had been flipped, the bulky man pinning the omega beneath him. He noted somewhere in the back of his head that the bastard's nose was bleeding. Good.

"You'll pay for that one, whore. Tell me, answer the question honestly, yes or no: are you a virgin?"

"Yes." The word seethed out of his lips and felt like poison on his tongue.

"Damn lucky for you then. Virgins always sell better so we aren't really allowed to touch your lot... much." The alpha grinned wickedly. "Guess you'll just have to use your mouth to make it up to me this time, huh, whore?"

Gintoki regained enough control over his facial muscles to promptly spit in the man's face.

"That's it!" The alpha roared, punching the omega square in the gut. Gintoki narrowed his eyes. It hurt like hell, but the pain was grounding him a little. Just a little more and he could break out of the last command hold. "Unfortunately we're not allowed to ruin your pretty little faces, but a couple bruises on the body are nothin'. Now get on your knees unless you want another one."

"You can go fuck yourself." He smirked. Expectedly, another punch came crashing down and Gin used to the little control he had left make sure it hit in just the right spot to knock the wind out of him. Yes! He felt like shit, but if he could just strike before the man issued another command then-

"And just what the hell do you think you're doing with the sugar perm, huh, Officer?"

"Hiji...kata?"


	6. Chapter 6

Hijikata grumbled as he followed the overzealous amanto girl and her freak dog down a dingy backstreet in a city about 3 towns over from Edo. He couldn't believe this was his life right now. What the hell string of fucked up things had to happen to create a universe where _Gintoki_ was an omega, _and_ Hijikata had to have sex with him. Once? For a week? Forever? It was honestly unclear. He wasn't ever one of those alphas with a big omega fetish, so he honestly wasn't sure how this heat thing worked entirely.

"Sadaharu says he went down here!" Kagura announced, pointing down one of the shadier looking alleys Hijikata had seen in his life time.

"Of course he did," the alpha sighed, meandering into the darkness without question. If anything happened him and the freak of nature yato could handle themselves.

"Oy," He called to the beta leaning against the wall and trying way too hard not to look him in the eye. Sure, Hijikata's alpha gene was pretty potent compared to some, but not enough to warrant behavior that suspicious. "You sell omega suppressants?"

The man finally looked him in the face at that, and his eyes lit up with immediate recognition. "Shinsengumi Vice-Chief! What an honor to run into you here!"

"...Huh?"

"I'm Ryuji Ito, with the Mimawarigumi, sir!"

"The Mimawarigumi?" That couldn't possibly be good.

"I know there has been some bad blood between our divisions, but I hope you aren't here to disrupt our omega discovery efforts, sir?"

"What the hell are you going on about?" Hijikata stalked in closer to the man, panic gripping his heart. Had the Mimawarigumi gotten to Gin before he could?

"Um, well, I figured that's why you were here, sir. I'm undercover you see," the man explained, pulling a badge out from the sleeve of his yukata, "I'm supposed to pretend to be a suppressant dealer, but the pills are actually heat inducers."

His heart skipped a beat.

"I offer them a discount if they help out my "grandma" at that inn over there for a bit. She puts them up in a room, and then once our currently stationed alpha smells the pills taking effect he goes to capture them," the man continued, none the wiser the the danger he was in. "Just in case the omega's particularly good at resisting commands, we usually make them double strength."

His hand was drifting for the hilt of his sword.

"No omega can resist an alphas command when their in heat that intense, no sir! Makes the job very easy."

"Why you-"

"BASTARD!"

Before he could manage to take out his sword or even so much as finish his sentence, Hijikata found himself lying by the wayside as the yato girl tore a whole in the wall with her umbrella.

"What the hell, sir! I'm just following orders!"

"He's not the one you need to be worried about!" The girl screeched, just narrowly missing out on smashing the man's skull open for a second time. "I don't know much about all of this omega and heat stuff, but I won't let anyone take advantage of _my_ Gin-chan!"

Hijikata scoffed, pulling himself up into a battle ready stance. As much as he would normally be quick to denounce the yato girl's barbaric tendencies, in this case he'd be lying if he said the scheme didn't make his stomach churn too. "Did you sell some of these fake pills to a silver haired omega recently? About my height? Completely insufferable and reeks of diabetes?"

"Oh yes! I'm sorry if he was your intended, he wasn't scented so I couldn't know! So please- agh!"

"My-" he gulped, remembering the plan. "Fuck. Yeah, something like that, you bastard. Kagura!"

"What is it, Mayora," she asked, casually digging her heel further into the wrist that she'd just broken.

"Do what you want with him until you think he's learned his lesson. I'm gonna go settle things with Gintoki. Um," he face flushed crimson, "I'll send word when he's. Settled."

"Yeah yeah just go fuck him in the ass already or whatever it is you animals do."

"Shut up! I'm not doing this because I want to!" He defended, turning to leave.

"And Mayora?' The girl asked, stomping on the man's shin now. Both pointedly ignored any of his pleas for help. "Thanks."

"Hn. Don't worry about it, brat." And with that he took off running towards the inn in the distance as fast as his feet could carry him. Oh, he may not know much about omegas, but he did know how less trustworthy people in power liked to use them. The amount of omegas that were raped on their way into custody was higher than anyone outside of the system thought, and based off the character in the alley way he had little trust for the alpha they'd chosen. Please don't be too late, he thought, not even Gintoki deserves this.

Flinging open the the inn's front door, he didn't bother with any pretenses, "Where is the silver haired omega who checked in here earlier today? What room is he in?"

"Oh I'm terribly sorry, I didn't realize someone had a claim on him!" The woman at the front had the audacity to look as though _that_ was the issue here, and even worse that it was an embarasing little one and not what should be a fucking crime. To his alpha nose, she reeked of fake omega hormones. "He's in 221, hasn't been apprehended yet so they should still be there."

Half of him wanted to stop right there to deck her across the face for her insensitivity but there wasn't any time so he settled for a growl and the nastiest look he could conjure before shooting off in the direction she had pointed to.

"213, 215, 217," he scanned the name plates as he stumbled towards the end of the hall on the second floor. In what he presumed to be the last room of the hall, there was a loud crash, followed by a man's seemingly irate voice.

"Unfortunately we're not allowed to ruin your pretty little faces, but a couple bruises on the body are nothin'. Now get on your knees unless you want another one."

Muscles burning, he picked up the pace. No, no, abso _lutely_ not.

"Ch. Go fuck yourself." He heard the omega's voice reply with all of its usual snark, though it sounded strained now. He flung open the door just in time to see a large but plain looking alpha send Gintoki flying across the room, landing on the floor at the foot of the bed.

"And just what the hell do you think you're doing with the sugar perm, huh, Officer?"

"Hiji...kata?" The perm blinked at him, looking more than a little lost. Now that his rival wasn't in immediate danger of being sexually assaulted, the scent hit him like a load of bricks.

"Oh shit." His hand flew to cover his nose. This was what an omega in heat smelled like? He smelled like strawberries and sugar and desire and need and he understood suddenly how weak willed alphas went mad for them. And this was _Gintoki_ he was talking about here.

"Who the hell are- Demon Vice-Chief of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshiro!?"

"Get the fuck," Gintoki sprang to his feet with the man's distraction, "Away from me!" He punctuated the statement with a running kick that sent the man flying headfirst out the door, through the hallway wall, out the other room's window, and presumably deep into the snow outside. He shouldn't be in any state to bother them for a while with a kick like that.

"Shit," the omega panted, dropping down to a seated position on the edge of the bed. "Could you give me some space, Mayora? I'm a bit fed up with trying to resist alphas right now and your stupid pheromones are making my omega go haywire."

Hijikata, for his part, was still frozen. Horrified, really. How could he possibly be feeling this attracted to _yorozuya?_

The omega looked lost for a moment, nose wrinkled and twitching. With a squeak, he jolted himself backwards across the bed to the far wall of the room, as far away from Hijikata as he could manage without leaving. "What the hell, Mayora!?" The omega screeched, but his voice was tight. "I'm Gintoki, remember, perm head, sugar freak! So what are you doing going around smelling like a teenage boy who just bought his first porn mag for, huh!?"

The accusation snapped the alpha back to reality. "It's not like I can help it, sugar freak! And it's not like I can't smell you too!"

" _I_ was drugged!" Gintoki yelled, but it was losing strength. Hijikata narrowed his eyes. Something about his gaze was starting to look... cloudy. "You try not having a heat for ten years and then getting dosed up with extra strength heat inducers and not being turned on by a stupid alpha's stupid manly hot pheromones!" His face flushed red, as he slapped a hand over his own mouth, horrified at its betrayal of him.

Hijikata, for his part, mirrored the flush. For a moment they both stood still in the horrified silence.

"I'm not coming back with you willingly, Mayora." Gintoki hissed. "If your loyalty to being a government dog extends far enough that you'd willfully sell me into a life of slavery and rape then I won't show you any mercy."

The alpha growled, taking a large step towards him. The reality of his situation clearly still hadn't sunk in for the brat. "Lay down and put your arms over your head," he commanded, putting every bit of alpha command that he had into it. He felt a little guilty using a command on the man so quickly after he'd almost been assaulted, but he had a point to make and Gin was being delusional. "And don't move until I say so."

With an expression Hijikata could only describe as hollow rage, the man complied. Before he could muster enough energy to resist the command, he quickly snapped on a pair of handcuffs in a way that chained him to the metal posts of the headboard.

"What?" He heard the man manage as he went to close the room door, still ajar from his dramatic entrance. "You saved me from getting raped for what? To have me yourself? I thought you were a man with honor, even though you were a tax theif, but-"

"Shut up!" The room filled with a deadly stillness. "Don't you see the situation you're in?" He whirled around to face the omega who was staring at the ceiling, it seemed, with all of the defiance he could muster. He wasn't _listening._ Building all of his self restraint and begging whatever gods there may be to help him keep his composure, he joined the omega on the bed, straddling his chest and unnecessarily pinning his cuffed hands for emphasis. Hijikata would make him listen, if he had to.

"Listen! You're barely an hour into this heat and you already can't do a thing against commands. You had to sit down once I entered the room because your instincts were begging you to submit! Even now, you're fighting it but I can smell your pheromones going off like crazy, and you're nowhere near the worst of it yet. How exactly do you expect to escape this situation without ending up assaulted or, best case scenario, sold like cattle and _then_ assaulted! Go on, you can talk, I'd love to hear this plan of yours that was just oh so brilliant you decided to follow it instead of asking anyone who cares about you for help!"

"You listen, Hijikata!" The man barked, straining against the chains and hands that now bound him, "If I hadn't gotten slipped heat inducers by some corrupt government dog, I'd be halfway out of the country by tomorrow!"

"That's really what you want!? You'd just leave behind everyone that you knew in Kabuchiko? Kagura, Shinpachi? You know those kids think the world of you, god knows why!"

"Don't talk like you have any idea what kind of situation I'm in, alpha!" The silver haired man seethed. "I refuse to make those kids go on the run, and if I got taken to auction it's not like I'd be seeing them anyways!"

"That's not true!"

"How the hell is that not true, you moron tax theif!"

"There are other options!"

"Like what!"

"Just mate me, god!"

" _What?"_

"Fuck!"

"What the hell, Hijikata!"

"I meant to make that proposal much more diplomatically but you pissed me off, ya damn perm head!"

"You hate me!" The man protested, but he saw his body shiver with something like anticipation. It's just the hormones, he reminded himself. You don't actually like each other.

"Yeah, well," Hijikata's eyes shot over to the side indignantly. "I happen to know who the top buyers lined up for the Shiroyasha are and... none of them are very good people. Or even human, most of them. I figured even you don't deserve that. And it's not like I was planning on dating anybody any time soon anyways so..."

"Damn it, Mayora, I-" the omega was cut off by his own scream as what Hijikata presumed to be a second wave of heat rolled over his body. He was writhing beneath him now, as though he were being torn apart from the inside, but the scent that was now rolling off his body in waves said so much more. God, he was practically drowning in it. He growled as a new scent hit the air and he felt his knees going damp at either side of the omega's hips. _Slick._

With growing horror, he watched the man beneath him produce what he could only describe as a whimper. A _whimper._ And it was full of pain, and desire, and need and-

"C'mon, Gintoki, look at me!" He commanded before his rational mind could go too far down the rabbit hole. At this point, he wondered if he'd ever find it again by the time this ordeal was over. He found himself met with dazed maroon eyes, like the omega wasn't quite sure where he was or who he was looking at.

"Hiji...kata?"

"Yes," he hissed, teeth clenched with restraint, "Hijikata, Toshi, Mayora, Tax Theif, whatever the hell you wanna call me right now! Just listen to me!"

The writhing beneath him slowed, and he hoped that meant the pain had eased enough for the omega to think straight. "Hijikata? You... smell really nice-"

"No time for that right now!" Hijikata protested, pushing the silver haired man's face away from his neck. The last thing he needed right now if he wanted a coherent exchange was the man getting a big ol' whiff of 'very aroused alpha'. "I need you to agree or not before you stop thinking straight, okay?"

"A...gree?"

"Yes, and by that I don't just mean asking me to fuck you because you're in heat, I need to know you understand, okay?"

"Fuck." The omega clenched his eyes shut for a moment. Hijikata felt like he could practically see him chasing out anything labeled 'shitty heat thoughts' with a broom. When he opened them again, they were still glazed over, but more present than before at least.

"I..." He grit his teeth, clearly knowing what he had to say but not being at all excited about it. "I would do anything to stay in those brats lives, okay!"

"So you're okay with, um, this, and how-"

"Shut up, Hijikata," the man below him dismissed. He was looking pointedly at some spot on the ceiling not anywhere near Hijikata's face. "I... trust. You."

Hijikata opened his mouth to respond but couldn't get a syllable out before a third wave of heat washed over the man below him, and he felt like he could practically see the sanity drain from the omegas eyes. It seemed that this would be the wave that finally pulled them both under. Unconsciously, he felt a rumble begin in his chest as he sought to soothe the omega's distress. He knew he shouldn't care, this was yorozuya after all, but soon enough he found himself gently resting his forehead to that of the man below him. Slowly, whether in response to the purr and the the skin contact or just because the heat wave was naturally settling, he felt the writhing beneath him stop and allowed his eyes to flutter open.

Instantly, he was met with familiar maroon eyes, but more alert than he had ever seen them before, and yet also distant. He seemed less dazed now yet, at the same time, somehow more out of control. A bead of of sweat dripped from the omegas brow and down to the man's pale lips, quirked inexplicably up into a smirk. Somehow, he'd never imagined an omega fully lost to heat to look this... predatory.

"You look awfully cocky for someone chained to a bed." He managed, though his voice had become strained. If he'd thought the smell in the air was strong before, it was the only one that existed now. It was the kind of sickeningly sweet smell he normally would have hated, like he was frolicking through a damn field of strawberries, but right now it was one of the best things he'd ever smelt in his life.

"What?" The omega asked, quirking his head defiantly to the side, "Not strong enough to restrain me yourself, _Alpha?_ "

"I should've known you'd be a brat in bed, _Omega_ ," he growled back. "Even now you can't shut your damn trap."

"Why don't you help me with that?" The omega purred back in a honeyed tone that Hijikata had only ever heard from the man before when he was trying to con himself out of a bad situation. Though this time, he finished it off with what he could only describe as a seductive bat of his lashes. The image was hard to connect with the Gintoki that he knew, but he couldn't say it wasn't working. He wondered briefly if that was one of many omega tells that he had missed, but he didn't have long to ruminate on the thought as he was interrupted by the feel of sugar sweet lips on his own.

The second their lips met a heat shot through Hijikata's body as though the omega had transferred his own to him, and he found himself wasting no time in tugging at Gin's obi with aggressive fingers. Thankfully, the fabric gave way easily and soon found itself lying in a random spot on the floor. Without the obi to hold it in place, Gin's yukata fell open to his sides to reveal his toned form flushed with lust from head to toe. Looking at him practically naked like this, he could see hints of the man's omega status that he would have never noticed before. While the man had plenty of muscle, it was the lithe kind of a runner, and his hips and waist were ever so slightly more defined than most men. He was also... smaller than expected. He wasn't quite sure why he had apparently unconsciously expected such an obnoxious man to have the dick size to match, but true to omega stereotypes everywhere the shiroyasha's member was on the small side and, and this _had_ to be the hormones talking almost... delicate. Almost... pretty.

And, most importantly, painfully erect.

"Hmm," the top let out a growl of thought as he considered whether to bother removing the rest of the omega's yukata. There was some reason, he was sure, that destroying the man's only set of clothes was a bad idea, but with the handcuffs in place he didn't see any other way to remove it. He supposed he could remove the handcuffs, but frankly, he didn't want to. The air was filled with a loud ripping noise as he pulled the offending item of clothing off of _his_ omega, earning him a gasp and a fresh wave of aroused pheromones. He scoffed.

"Like that, do you, _Gintoki,_ " he whispered into the man's ear, who only responded with a shuddering moan. "Who would've known the sadist leader of the yorozuya was a masochist too."

"Aren't you a little," the man was _panting_ for fuck's sake, " _overdressed,_ Alpha?"

Hijikata's chest rumbled in agreement. Couldn't argue with that one.

"Damn brat," he grumbled, pulling back enough to rip off his scarf, shirt and jacket, following Gin's yukata in short order to some equally unknown and uncared for destination on the floor. Unable to resist the temptation, he leaned down one more time to offer a quick, teasing suckle on the nape of the increasingly impatient omega's neck. The man whined, arching his spine in pleasure at the act.

"Where... are you... going... bastard," The omega gasped out with an undertone of panic as his alpha pulled back yet again.

"I thought it might be a little hard to fuck you with pants on, omega, unless you're telling me you _don't_ want my cock?"

The omega hissed beneath him. "You bastard."

"So you _don't_ want it?" The brunet teased, grateful for the banter to distract the omega while he shimmied out of his pants as quickly as possible. He was expecting a flat out denial, probably some more bickering, but instead the cocky bastard just purred.

"You know I do, _Alpha,"_ he returned just as Hijikata finally successfully freed himself from his damned pants. Hijikata felt his entire face flush red in response, but the omega was paying him no mind, opting instead to spread his legs open invitingly, red eyes fixed on the alpha's finally exposed member. "C'mon, Alpha," he whined, desperation beginning to overtake him, "I don't have all day."

"Hn, you're in no position to be making demands," Hijikata reprimanded, surprised at the part of him that was genuinely agitated at the omega's lack of subservience. Some part of him that he didn't know existed was demanding him to put the omega in his place, and ideally make him beg for it too. Before he could fully process what he himself was doing, he found himself taking the pale man by the hips and flipping him roughly onto his stomach. Gin responded with a startled gasp, but before he could find the composure for a retort he found himself with two fingers buried roughly into his ass.

Though he couldn't see his face, Hijikata heard him melt into a low moan that he was sure was accompanied by a divine expression of need. Apparently beyond the point of words, the omega only drew out a moan as he rocked back onto the fingers in search of relief, mumbling some completely incoherent stream of words that he assumed amount to something along the lines of 'just go ahead and stick your dick in me already, Hijikata, you bastard'.

"Now is that any way to ask for what you want?" He teased, letting his hot breath tickle the omega's ear. His fingers were having a remarkably easy time moving around inside the man's ass, the slick made sure of that, and it wasn't long before he found the spot that had the man below him crying out from where his face has become buried into the sheets.

"Gonna..." he cried, struggling to get out a single coherent word, "gonna-" he cut himself off with a scream of pleasure before he could get out anything more sophisticated than that, cum shooting across the bed beneath him, and even some onto his own stomach. Panting, Gin seemed to gain some amount of post-orgasm clarity, as Hijikata slowly removed his fingers and brought them to the omega's mouth.

"What are you..." maroon eyes drifted to him wearily, "doing... wasting time... for?"

"Whining, whining, whining," Hijikata himself whined, "that's all you ever use that pretty mouth of yours for besides shoveling down a decade's worth of sugar in one sitting. I think you oughta try finding something else it might be good for."

"What... are you-"

The man found himself cut off as the same two fingers that just brought him to climax were shoved equally as roughly down his throat. Gagging to start with, the omega soon found himself sucking on reflex, usually maroon eyes glinting crimson as they made contact with Hijikata's blue ones.

"Well well, looks like it can be good for something else after all," he smirked, enjoying the way a drip of either drool or slick, he wasn't sure which, rolled onto his omega's soft, pink lips. "But we can explore that more later. After all, what you really want right now is my knot, isn't it, Gintoki?"

Gin moaned something that sounded like 'fuck you' around the fingers still occupying his mouth, and before he could think twice Hijikata found himself planting a hard swat across the man's backside. "C'mon, you were so ready to admit it a minute ago, why don't you beg for it nice and pretty?"

The omega only hissed, toes curling in pleasure as the alpha accentuated the statement with a second swat. Huh. So Gin really _was_ a bit of a masochist.

"Please," he relented, knuckles white with how intensely he was gripping the filthy sheets beneath him. Slowly, Hijikata withdrew his fingers from the soft mouth so that he could get the maximum enjoyment from his begging. Possessed by some sadistic streak he didn't know he had, he moved the same hand down to roughly pump the omega's shaft. He knew the while the omega could get off from the external stimulation if he went at it long enough, it wasn't what either of them really wanted or needed at the moment, despite the delicious moans now pouring from the omega's abused mouth. "Please, Alpha!"

"Please what, _Omega_?" He asked, feigning ignorance. "You'll have to be more specific than that."

"Please fuck me!" The man caved, really sounding desperate now, "Knot me, fuck me, mate me, make me yours, alpha, alpha, _alpha-"_ the man descended again into incoherent babbling, and Hijikata supposed it was about time to take mercy on the poor man.

"Well why didn't you say so," he mocked, though he doubted Gin would process much of anything he said at this point. Drawing back, he released the omega's cock and lined himself up with with the same entrance his fingers had occupied minutes earlier. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered for half a second if he would fit, after all Gin had felt so tight on his fingers earlier, and Hijikata fit the alpha stereotype when it came to size just as much as Gin did for omegas. A whimper broke through the air as Gin let out another cry of pain, his body no doubt racking him with cramps in punishment for not getting fucked yet, and Hijikata was pretty sure he would feel guilty for that later, but for now it gave him the final push to slowly insert himself into the slick and ready warmth that was being presented for _him_ , just him, by _his_ omega.

He was pretty sure Gin wasn't even trying to form words at this point, fully lost to the mindless pleasure as he felt himself finally be filled as his body demanded.

"You're so tight," Hijikata hissed, though he knew the man wasn't listening. "Perfect, it's like your ass was made for me." The omega only pushed back, greedily taking in as much of the alpha's shaft as he physically could. Before he knew it both of them were lost beyond the point of reason, and the only sounds that filled the air were that of hips smacking together and a swirl of shared moans. For Gin's part his sounds seemed to be growing shriller and shriller with every thrust, and Hijikata felt his knot swelling up larger in response to every one of them. He continued pounding into him, hard enough there was no way the man would be walking the next morning, or any time soon for that matter.

As they both approached their climax, Gintoki subconsciously tilted his head to one side to leave his neck exposed for marking, the action sending a fresh wave of pheromones right to Hijikata's sensitive nose that seemed to be the final straw for both men. With one final cry, Hijikata felt himself release into Gintoki, who looked like he'd just been sent to another fucking universe, and finally he bent over to properly take ahold of the man's neck in a firm bite that was probably harder than it necessarily needed to be. The way the omega's face was turned, he could just see the tears of ecstasy leaking from blissed out maroon eyes, pressed tightly closed with the over-stimulation of it all.

Satisfied that he'd bitten down hard enough for the mark to take he released the man's neck and at last plopped down onto his side, wrapping his arms around the omega from behind to drag him down him, since his knot mean they probably wouldn't be able to separate for ten or twenty minutes at least. If either of them even stayed awake that long- if he was exhausted, the omega had to be barely conscious at this point. For a moment, silence reigned over the room, the only sounds left being that of the worn out breathing of both men in tandem with one another.

"Gintoki?" He asked, cautiously. "You in there?"

"Shuddup," the omega complained, voice heavy with sleepiness. "Hijikata... you bastard."

And with that, Gintoki went limp in his arms, fully lost to the peaceful reprieve of sleep.

"Tch," Hijikata scoffed, too tired himself to really process any of the events that had just unfolded over the past hour or so. That was a problem for morning Hijikata. "Goodnight to you too, permhead."

And with that, he followed the omega into sleep with a soft smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh this took a fucking eon to write. This is the first sex scene I've ever written, so I hope you guys are happy with it! I'll do my best to improve as the story continues, but overall I'm not as unhappy with this chapter as I could've been. Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Gintoki woke up to feeling aches in places he didn't know could ache, an odd tightness around his chest, and some unfamiliar object pressed against his ass. All in all, it was a confusing way to start his morning.

Yawning, he moved to wipe the sleep from his eyes and was met only with the rattling of chains. He blinked. Huh? Slowly, as the events of the previous night flooded back into his mind, his eyes drifted upwards to see his wrists still uncomfortably chained to the headpost of the unfamiliar bed. Oddly, the chains seemed to have gotten tangled in the night, almost like he'd been flipped onto his-

He blinked again.

This couldn't be happening to him. Rifling desperately through his foggy memories, he found anything after telling Hijikata that he trusted him was drawing up a blank, though his memory leading up to that point was spotty as well.

Wait.

Hijikata.

_Hijikata._

As he had done with the chains beforehand, his eyes slowly drifted down to his chest, where the "mysterious pressure" turned out to be a muscular pair of arms clinging to him like a child with his favorite toy. The damn bastard still smelt amazing to his heat riddled nose, but for now at least he could still think clearly enough to be annoyed by this.

"But if those are the Mayora's arms, then..." One last time, his eyes drifted even lower, only to find that Hijikata seemed to have locked his top leg over Gintoki's thigh in the night, which meant the thing pressing up against his ass right now was-

"EEK, get off of me, Mayora!" The omega squeaked, delivering a swift kick to the alpha's shin before he could wake up enough to process what was happening.

"What the hell was that for, permhead!" Hijikata cried, instinctively releasing the omega to clutch his now throbbing shin.

"That's what you get for taking advantage of poor Gin-chan in his sleep, pervy Mayora!"

" _Me?_ " The alpha asked incredulously, " _I'm_ not the one that nearly cried because I wasn't getting dicked fast enough last night, sugar freak!"

"I _what!?"_ Gin cried in an indignant squawk.

"C'mon, _Gintoki,_ " he mocked, tone turning teasing, "Don't tell me you don't remember? Though I will admit, it was a surprise to learn that the great Shiroyasha gets off to a good spanking."

"You're lying, right?" Gin insisted, eyes the widest Hijikata had ever seen them with horror, "You're just making shit up to make fun of me? Well haha very funny, Oogushi-kun, but I won't fall for it!"

"Wait," the alpha paused, brows furrowing, "You mean- you really don't remember?"

He offered a shrug. "Omegas in peak heat rarely do. Don't you know anything, Oogushi-kun?"

"Shut up, it's not like I was ever expecting to deal with an omega in heat!" A frown settled onto his face. "So you don't remember... consenting? To, um, you know-"

"I remember _that_ part," the omega huffed, "Though is it the _last_ thing I remember." He moved his eyes off the alpha in favor of staring down the ceiling instead. His tone softened. "So don't go running around worrying that you're a rapist or something stupid like that."

Hijikata huffed in turn. "Well excuse me for having morals, I know it's not a very familiar concept to you lawless hooligans over at yorozuya."

"Yeah yeah, whatever, tax thief, I'm not going anywhere now so how about you let me out of the damn handcuffs already? Kinky bastard."

"Pft," he scoffed, face heating to a flourescant red at the fact that he wasn't wrong. "If it'll get you to shut up already. You know you don't even shut up in bed?" He informed him, stretching as he rose from the bed to search for his pants who's pockets contained the handcuff keys.

"Sounds like you need to get better at distracting me then, Mayora. I'm sure Sougo would love to hear that the feared Demon Vice Chief of the Shinsengumi's shit in bed."

"First of all," the man in question began, dragging his pants out from where they had somehow ended up underneath the room's small table, "Since you apparently don't remember, allow me to inform you that you were having a _great_ time, or did you think that cum all over your chest was just from me?"

This time it was Gintoki's turn to flush red, as he really looked at himself for the first time that morning. Now that he was thinking about, it did seem like every inch of him below the neck was caked in bodily fluids ranging from dried to sticky, especially his- no, nope, he wasn't thinking about that right now. It would take a _ges_ to wash all of this shit off.

"I-"

"And second of all, it's this kind of attitude that's why you got spanked." Hijikata smirked. " _Brat._ "

Gin was pretty sure his jaw was hanging ridiculously open at this point. "You- you- you mean you _weren't_ just making fun of me about all that stuff earlier? No, you're still making fun of me, right, Hijikata-kun? Gin-chan would never-"

Hijikata appeared to stop listening as they both turned towards the sound of a knock at the door.

"Hijikata-san?" A familiar older woman's voice sounded.

"That bitch!" Both men uttered under their breaths in unison.

"I have breakfast for you and your mate, along with a few other things. Consider it an apology from the Mimawarigumi for this misunderstanding. Feel free to stay for the duration of your omega's heat, and let us know with the room phone if you need anything!"

And with that there was shuffling of footsteps as the old woman presumably fled from the territorial couple as quickly as possible.

"Damn old hag," Hijikata cursed abandoning his pants on the table to go see what constituted as an acceptable apology gift from the Mimawarigumi.

"Ah," he stopped, "I guess I should cover up with something," he muttered mostly to himself. Turning back around, he innocently reached to grab one of the sheets off the bed rather than going through the effort of putting his pants on, only to be met with a sharp hiss from the omega before he could even fully lift it off. Instinctively, he rumbled a chastizing growl in response that sent Gin into immediate silence. Biting his lip, the omega narrowly held in the apologetic whimper fighting it's way to the surface.

 _'What if Alpha is upset with us?'_ He could practically hear his heat brain panicking, ' _What if Alpha leaves!?'_

' _I don't give a damn if ~~Alpha~~ the Mayora is upset with me,'_ the rational part of Gintoki argued. How the hell did he end up here? What was this, Lord of the Rings? Was he fucking Smeagol? One half of him the good, normal, lazy Gintoki, the other apparently likes getting smacked around by mayo smelling alphas. Yes, he decided, the second half was the golem half for sure.

They both stared at each other for a moment, frozen in action.

"What the _hell_ was that, sugar perm!" Hijikata exploded.

Gin, meanwhile, was in a daze. Apparently his body had decided that this bed was his nest for the heat which, fine, makes sense. But the moment Hijikata reprimended him he'd fucking submitted! Without any spoken commands even!

"Oi, are you listening!?"

The omega shook his head. This didn't bode well for him, but he certainly wasn't going to point that out to Hijikata now. The last thing he needed was for the alpha to realize just how much control over him he had right now. "You tried to take apart my nest. Go naked or put your damn pants on."

The alpha scoffed, releasing the sheet all the same. "Fine, I'm pretty sure this whole place is just a front anyways. I'll leave your precious nest alone, so stop smelling so anxious already. It's making me all... agitated."

"I do not smell anxious!"

"Whatever, permhead," he dismissed, heading towards the door still in the buff.

"Oi oi, you could at least unhandcuff me first, tax thief!"

"I'm getting to it! Damn, you're so needy." He complained, swinging open the front door and stepping out only to return moments later with a tray piled high with a traditional Japanese breakfast, and beside it a large box filled with a shmorgus board of contents. Gin noted with a trace of excitement that there was a plate of pudding on the tray. It was probably only included because of the stereotype that omegas loved sweets, but what could he say, he liked what he liked. Bored with reiterating the same sentiment over and over again, he silently rattled his chains now, hoping the irritating noise would make the irritable alpha move faster.

"Alright alright I'm coming, sheesh," the man relented, finally fishing the key out from his pants pocket and meandering over to the impatient omega. With a sharp click, the handcuffs were undone and the omega found himself freed.

"'Bout time," the man simply complained more, showily rubbing at his wrists. "Now let's get some food down before my heat decides to rear it's ugly head again. I call the pudding by the way."

"I didn't want the damn sugar lump anyways. If you were one of my men I'd have you commit seppuku for putting that kind of poison in your body."

Gin just hummed in indifference to that information, groaning at the pain burning into his body at the effort of sitting up. He'd felt better than this before after being stabbed, and he'd been stabbed a lot.

"What, can the delicate little omega not manage the six feet to the breakfast table?"

The corners of his mouth quirked down in displeasure at the observation. He let out an indignant "hmph!", promptly leaning back into the pillows, though in such a way that he was at least mostly upright this time. "What kind of alpha are you, huh, trying to make an omega on day two of heat leave his nest for food. If you were a good alpha, you'd be bringing it to me, not the other way around."

He crossed his arms, looking pointedly at the wall directly ahead of him as he waited to see what kind of retort the alpha came up with. And waited. And waited. He was tapping his fingers on his bicep with the impatience now, but still silence dominated the room. Curious now, he turned his head to steal a look at the suddenly speechless alpha, only to find himself even more lost than before. Was his half-assed guilt-trip... working?

With a stunned expression on his face that told Gin that even the man himself was just as lost as he was, the shinsengumi officer was stuck in a seemingly endless loop of looking between the omega and the tray. He held in a snicker. He had only meant to poke fun at him, and he was sure logically the alpha knew that, but his instincts were demanding him to be a good mate for his distressed omega. Plus, he wasn't kidding about being achey and not quite willing to leave his sad, makeshift 'nest'. To Hijikata's alpha nose, he was probably drenched in "I'm an omega in heat and I am unhappy and distressed please send help' sorts of smells. Finally, instincts seemed to win out as Hijikata wordlessly snatched the tray, before slamming it roughly onto the omega's lap.

"Here." The man ground out through gritted teeth.

Gin smirked. And then actually snickered. And before he knew it, he was flat out laughing.

"What's so funny, huh, you perm headed bastard!"

"Aaaw can the poor little alpha not handle being mean to his beloved omega? It's okay, Oogushi-kun, I won't tell a soul, not for any less than 300 yen at least-"

"You're right."

"Huh?" Gin's laughter stopped abruptly. What exactly was the bastard planning here?

"I can't help it, you know, instincts and all." A cruel smirk was now growing on the alpha's face, as he reached into his pockets one last time to reveal a travel sized bottle of mayonnaise. "After all, an alpha has to provide for his omega, right?"

" _No_ ," Gintoki gasped. "Don't you dare get that dog shit anywhere near my pudding."

"Me? Oh, _Gintoki_ , I would never dream of it!" He took another step towards the fearful omega and held out the bottle. "Here," he began, command evident in his voice, "Take it."

"Nooo," Gin panicked, even as his traitorous hands grasped the bottle.

"Hmm, let's see. Since you love your pudding so much, let's make it even better, shall we?"

"Hijikata, don't you dare-"

"Go ahead and start squeezing that right on top of it, and don't stop until I say when."

"Nononononooono-" All of the omega's protests ran together as his shaking hands began to squeeze the bottle. Too horrified to even look, Gin squeezed his eyes shut, praying that some part at the center of the pudding would remain untainted and salvageable by the time this was over.

"Aaaand when."

Cautiously, Gin cracked his eyes open to assess the damage only the find the damned mayo bastard smirking at his him over the top of a bowl of rice, now piled high with mayonaise. Hopeful, he dropped his eyes even lower to reveal a perfectly undamaged plate of pudding.

"Ha! Did you really think I'd waste my precious mayo on you, fool?"

The omega bristled. "Don't even joke about ruining a man's pudding like that, Mayora! I hope the mayonnaise rots your brain!"

"Not before the sugar rots your teeth," Hijikata retorted settling back down on the bed next to Gin. Thankfully, even in the close proximity to the alpha Gin was feeling more discomfort than arousal, so they should at least be able to get a meal down. Honestly, he was shocked his heat had allowed him a reprieve for even this long, though to be fair it wasn't like he had a ton of experience with unmedicated heats anyways. Even he wasn't sure what was and wasn't normal for him.

"So, Mr.Know-it-all, what exactly can we expect here going forward. How long's this thing supposed to last? You're acting pretty normal right now- mostly- but let me tell you still smell-" he cut himself off abruptly, and Gin had a sneaking suspicion that whatever word he was initially going for was deemed too complimentary. "You still smell like a damn brothel is all I'm saying. I don't get it."

"Hn. Well, if you had paid attention in basic sex ed," Gintoki began with an awful lot of confidence for a man who had about 4 combined years of schooling tops, "You would know that heats significantly decrease in intensity once they've served their purpose of attracting a mate. If you had just fucked me without mating me, then I'm sure we'd be going at it like rabbits again by now, but since you did we could be fine for hours yet. Or minutes. Totally depends."

"But it doesn't go away?" Hijikata asked, him and Gin both taking a moment to tuck into their respective breakfasts.

"Not entirely, not unless it reaches it's natural end, which could be anywhere from three to seven days." He punctuated his sentence with one final lick to his pudding spoon, followed by a shrug. "Again, it really just depends. The only other way to stop it would be if I-" the man's face fell flat. "Hijikata?"

The alpha raised a cautious eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"I don't suppose you happen to have a morning after pill on you by any chance?"

"Why would I- oh. _Oh._ "

"Damned irresponsible mayo-brained moron!" Gintoki accused, whacking the man upside the head, causing him to choke on the last of his "Hijikata Special", i.e. dog food.

"What was I supposed to do, huh, stop on the way here for condoms!?" He wheezed around the lump of mayo covered rice struggling to make its way down his throat.

" _Yes!_ " He admonished, going in for a second whack. "It's not like I'm on birth control, you know! I don't need any more pups! I can't afford any more pups! Kagura and the mutt already eat me out of house and home!"

"Fine, fine!" He gasped, somehow managing to swallow the bite without chocking to death. From the bitter looks the alpha was shooting him, Gin had a sneaking suspicion that he wanted to whack him back but that his instincts weren't allowing it. Ha, sucks for the Mayora. "Sheesh, it's not like you're gonna get pregnant your first time anyways," he dismissed, setting down his empty bowl on the tray next to Gin's.

Gin snorted. "I bet you're thinking 'Stupid sugar perm, the universe would have to really hate you to let that happen'. Well guess what, Mayora, it does! It hates me a lot! I'm a male omega if you haven't noticed! That doesn't happen without at least a _little_ bit of hate from the universe."

Surely even Hijikata had to admit that it takes a special kind of cursed luck to wind up a male omega.

"Well, I don't know how you're feeling but I can tell you right now you're definitely still in heat. So we're in the clear for now at least."

"Oh I'm still in heat alright," the omega complained, "It's _sweltering_ in here, and I have _cramps_ , and I've been ignoring the urge to gather up all those clothes on the floor and pile them up here for at least ten minutes now."

"Then why don't you do it?"

"Um, nest? Remember? Gosh, Hijikata-kun, you're pretty slow on the uptake aren't you? It's no wonder you were never a hit with the ladies."

"You know what I think? _I_ think you're just too embarrassed to let me see you hobbling around from how sore your ass must be, _Gintoki."_

A frown etched itself into the omega's face. That was certainly a factor, but it wouldn't do to have the Mayora know that either. Turning his nose up defiantly at the alpha, he swung his legs over the side of the bed with only minimal wincing, ready to prove him wrong.

Again, the alpha let out a deep, rumbling growl that froze Gin in place where he sat. At the same time, he felt a calloused hand grasp him by the scruff of the neck like an escaping kitten. Slowly, Gin turned his head back and made eye contact with an equally confused looking Hijikata.

"I-" The alpha shook his head as Gin had done earlier. "Um. I think- I think maybe you shouldn't leave the nest. I... don't like it."

Gintoki swung his legs back into bed faster than he would admit to. "Well, I suppose I could do that," he insisted stubbornly as the other man awkwardly released his neck, "You know, as a favor and all, only because of that."

"And I..." The alphas cheeks were tinged pink now. "I'll go get them. The clothes. For your nest. Since it's so damn important to you."

He saw the pink on the alphas face flush a little brighter, and realized too late that he'd let out a relieved smile at the concession. He flipped it upside down and tried to make up for it by shooting the alpha one of his finest glares instead, but it was too late. And, judging by the speed with which Hijikata jerked his face out of view and fled the bed on sight, he had a feeling it turned out looking more like a pout. _Great._ He had a significantly higher body count than most other shonen protagonists combined, and here he was reduced to some fluffy, sugary smelling omega scaring his alpha off with _pouts._ Takasugi would laugh at him.

Leaning back, he watched the beet red alpha stumble around the room in search of all of their shed clothing. He smelled stressed, even for him, and an uptight man like Hijikata always smelled stressed. One by one he tossed items of clothing at the omega without looking him in the eye, which Gin dutifully took to arranging "just right". With displeasure, he realized that most of the things comprising the center of the nest were Hijikata's rather than his own, but that didn't mean shit to his instincts and putting them anywhere else felt wrong.

Finally, the last piece the alpha retrieved from the further corner of the room was Gin's own yukata. Or, what was left of it anyways.

"What the hell happened to my yukata!?"

"Well, um," the alpha stammered, "You couldn't take it off normally with the handcuffs so I just. Ripped it off."

"..."

"It's covered in slick anyways, it was practically ruined already."

" _I'm_ covered in worse!" Gin protested, waving a fist at the alpha in lieu of anything to throw. "And besides, it's a damn yukata! You don't even need to take it off to get to my ass, you sadistic bastard! That was my only set of clothes! What the hell am I supposed to wear back to Edo!"

"I don't know, this is a ryokan isn't it, surely they have a yukata somewhere!"

"A _sham_ ryokan! Led by sex traffickers! If that box has anything but food and demeaning omega toys then I'll suck my own dick."

Hijikata opened his mouth to say something but apparently thought better of it. Instead, he simply closed it again and marched over to the box. Reaching in without really looking, even Gin found himself waiting on baited breath to see what he would draw out. He was sure the Mimawarigumi wouldn't let the Shinsengumi Vice-Chief or his omega starve to death, but some morning after pills or even a couple pain killers would be a big relief for the omega.

Removing his hand, both men found themselves staring deeply into a maroon, leather collar with matching leash.

"...It matches your eyes," Hijikata monotoned, holding it towards the omega in mock offering.

"Keep that shit away from me!" He pressed himself further back into the newly arranged nest. The alpha took another step closer, mocking smile firmly in place on his face.

"Ah c'mon, _Gintoki_ , you don't even want to try it on?"

Gin narrowed at his eyes at the outstretched hand like it was a snake that might strike at any moment. That... was the problem.

He... kind of did.

He opened his mouth- and closed it again. And opened it- and closed it.

In front of him, Hijikata halted his approach like he'd been smacked in the face, and sniffed. "Um," he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, teasing forgotten. "I think you might be going into another heat wave, permhead."

Gin felt himself glow red. He knew this had to happen eventually, hell he should be happy that it was since that meant he wasn't stuck with pup number 3 just yet. But to think it was- was it triggered by the idea of Hijikata putting a collar on him? No- it couldn't be.

"No handcuffs this time?" He found himself saying before he could stop himself, "Though I guess for a kinky bastard like you, Hijikata- _kun_ , the collar would be a step up, huh?"

"What- no, I wasn't actually-"

"Ooh? The feared Demon Vice-Chief is too much of a coward to try and put a collar on the great Shiroyasha?" He let an arrogant smirk rise to the surface in just the way he knew pissed the Mayora off most. "Or is it that you _can't, Alpha?"_

The alpha growled. "You wanna find out, perm head!?"

"You're welcome to try, Mayora!" He challenged, bracing himself for impact.

Before he knew it, he and Hijikata had both tumbled off the bed in a fight for dominance, rolling around on the floor like a pair of fighting lion cubs. His instincts were screaming at him for daring to challenge his alpha, but his pride was too great to give in without a fight. Of course, Gin knew that he wanted to lose this fight at the end, but the question was, after how long?

"What's the matter, Mayora, can't bring yourself to go all out on a poor little omega?" He prodded, trying to escalate the situation further. At the rate the alpha was holding back now, he wouldn't even be able to pretend lose.

Taking the bait, Hijikata let out one final cry of frustration. Acting on seemingly out of nothing other than sheer instinct, Gin's eyes widened as the alpha let out a deep rumbling growl that stilled him just long enough for his teeth to latch onto the mating mark left on his mate's shoulder the night before. This time, the bite was much softer, but for some reason instantly every muscle in his body went lax. Something about it felt like a gentle reprimand, disciplinary yet comforting. Tilting his head back, Gin felt his head going fuzzy the way it always did before a black out heat wave.

He barely even noticed when the alpha let go, and it wasn't until he heard the click of snapping metal around his neck that he blinked himself enough back into consciousness to process what had just happened.

"How's that, _Omega?_ " Hijikata smirked, pulling him in close by the chain attached to the front of the collar. "I'd say it suits you, really."

"You- you cheated!" Gin sputtered, fighting through the fog still drifting around in his brain. "That was some alpha bullshit! Couldn't you beat Gin-chan with your own two hands, Hijikata- _kun_?"

"Are you _trying_ to make me kill you!?"

"Ha! You could never now! Who knows if your instincts will ever let you hit me again, stupid Mayora!" The fog in his head that had begun to dissipate swung back in full force at the alpha pheromones that poured off the man in response to the challenge. He was honestly surprised he could still string together a coherent sentence at this point. Where Hijikata was holding the chain so close their noses were already millimeters away from touching, but Gin still moved in even closer to speak directly over the alpha's lips. "And more importantly, now that you've caught me, _what are you gonna do with me?"_

"Damned brat," the alpha rumbled, "I didn't think omegas were supposed to be such _brats."_

"I didn't think alphas were supposed to _lets us,"_ Gintoki returned, tracing the tip of his finger down the alpha's chest. "Shouldn't you have me on my knees in repentance by now, _Alpha_?"

"First of all," the alpha began, ignoring Gin's small whine as he pulled back from his place over the omega into a more upright position. "I need _you_ back in your nest before it drives me insane."

Gin squeaked as he found himself hoisted into the air with the rising alpha, forcing him to lock his arms and legs around Hijikata to keep himself from tumbling to the floor. He panted, struggling to keep any amount of coherency running through his brain as his back hit the bed with a resounding thunk. It was so _hot_ and the alpha smelt so damn _good._

"But if the offer still stands..." the alpha began, already in place caging his body over Gintoki's. He dropped his head for the last part, close enough that Gin could feel his hot breath tickling his inner ear. "You're more than welcome to seek repentance like that. If you think you're _good enough."_

The omega growled playfully, flipping the alpha over with a smirk on his face. "Oh please, Hijikata- _kun_ , I bet you haven't had your dick sucked in years, I'll make you cum so fast you'll be embarassed."

"Big talk from the man who was a virgin until a few hours ago," the alpha challenged as the omega pulled himself down to be eye level with Hijikata's by now painfully erect cock.

"Pft. How hard could it be?" The omega dismissed, wondering somewhere in the furthest recesses of his mind just what the fuck had gotten into him. Of course, those parts of his mind were being pretty significantly overshadowed by the parts going " _alpha alpha knot pups alpha"_ on what seemed like an endless loop. He winced as a punishing current of pain crashed through his entire body, radiating out from his abdomen, but it was still nowhere near the pain of what he'd experienced yesterday. "You'd better not taste like mayo."

Taking the base of the alpha's cock in hand, he realized abruptly that he had no idea what he was doing. Sure, the man had seen porn before, but now that he was actually here he wished that he'd paid more attention. Tentatively, he offered a small lick to the tip just to test the waters. The man beneath him shuddered in response, and Gintoki found himself purring. He thinks he might like eliciting that kind of response from his alpha. Emboldened by the positive reaction, he wrapped his lips around the alpha's cock and began to suck.

He heard Hijikata let out a low groan that pulled his eyes upward even as he continued to bob his head up and down, his right hand covering what his mouth couldn't. The normally tightly wound man looked completely undone now, his head thrown back with an expression of ecstacy. Tasting the precum that was now dripping onto his tongue, Gin realized possibly too late that he really hoped that the alpha didn't knot in his mouth. Chocking to death on cum didn't exactly rank high on his list of ways to go out.

Abruptly, he felt a calloused hand bury its way into his hair, followed by one final gruff cry of pleasure, and that was all the warning he got before his entire mouth was flooded with the alpha's release. Barely repressing a cough, Gintoki swallowed on reflex to keep himself was choking, wishing he could pull back already but locked into place by the alpha's hand. As the release slowed and the orgasm high wore off, he felt the other man's grip in his hair go lax and wasted no time in taking his chance to pull back and shoot the alpha one of his finest glares.

Unfortunately, he was pretty sure the effect was ruined by the flush on his face and the drip of escaped cum that had rolled on his lower lip. The tossled fluffy hair and collar probably weren't helping either. Or his traitorous pheromones that were no doubt scrambling to inform the alpha how excited the omega was at so successfully pleasing his alpha. As he suspected, the alpha wasn't buying it and only smirked down at him instead of being cowed.

"Taste better than mayo, huh, _Gintoki_?" he teased.

Gin tried to respond with a small growl, but it came out sounding more like a whine even to his own ears. "Not like it's hard to taste better than dog food," he indirectly conceded.

"Maybe you should let me have taste then."

"What the hell are you-" he cut himself off with a squeak as he felt a harsh yank on the chain attached the his collar pull him up to be face to face with Hijikata. Before he could let out any more protests, the dark haired man, still grasping the chain, pulled him down until their lips were pressed tightly against each other. Enjoying the contact too much to complain, Gin deepened the kiss, pressing at the alpha's mouth with his tongue in request for entrance. The alpha responded in kind, and they found themselves wrapped up like this, only pulling back for brief, gasping breaths for what felt like an eternity.

Hissing, Gin felt another wave of heat roll through his body and felt the chest he was sprawled atop of rumble comfortingly in response. His head had been fuzzy for a while now, but at this point he could barely think. He felt the kind of disorientation that he usually only felt when he was either blackout drunk or short of a couple or four pints of blood.

"Taste... better than mayo..." he managed through increasingly short breaths, "But I think I have some better ideas of where you should cum next time."

"Oh really?"

The omega didn't bother to dignify that question with a response, thankful that his heat hormones meant the alpha was already half hard again. With a mischievous grin, Gin bucked his hips against the alpha's, both parties groaning at the pleasant friction between them. Pushing off the alpha's broad chest, Gin moved himself into a more upright position.

"And just what the hell do you think you're up to, Omega?"

Gin only purred in response, grasping the alpha's cock in his hand yet again. This time, though, it was only there for a moment as Gin eagerly guided it to his slick covered entrance. With all the lubricant from the slick it slid easily inside, and Gintoki wondered if he had felt so full the last time they'd done this. Wasting no time and eager to make the pain swimming around in his belly disappear, he began to bounce his hips up and down the length of the alpha's shaft, ready to be filled.

Beneath him, Hijikata growled. "Who said you could be on top, _Omega?_ "

With a startled yip, Gin find himself roughly flipped beneath the alpha who didn't miss a beat in pounding into the now thoroughly dazed man.

"Look at me," the alpha commanded. Gin's gaze snapped onto the alpha's steely blue eyes, his pupils blown out in a way Gin was only used to seeing on the man in the heat of battle. "I want to see your face when I fill you up with my pups."

Gin couldn't really muster a more coherent response to that other than a pleased whine of agreement that he hoped got the point across.

"That's what you want, isn't it, Omega?"

It was, by that point, in fact it was just about the only thing consuming the omega's mind. His head was too hazy to let even a shred of doubt enter his mind, the logical part of him now fully locked out by the foggy wall of heat.

"You want my knot so bad, you took it so well last time," The alpha continued, though surely he knew anything he said at this point was flying in one ear and out the other, "I wanna see your stomach swell up because you're so full of my cum."

Gin moaned. He wasn't sure if that was physically possible, but it sounded pretty nice right about now. He felt like Hijikata was pounding the sanity out of him, and he felt his eyes roll back as he couldn't keep himself from coming any longer. Hijikata was soon to follow, and he felt the warmth flow into him, pushing the pain out with it. It was a soothing feeling, one that instantly induced drowsiness in the omega. He purred content as the alpha flipped their positions one more for comfort, leaving Gin sprawled across Hijikata with his head resting on his chest. Even as he felt himself clamping down on the alpha's knot, his body desperate to milk him of every last drop, the fading haze left him... confused.

Blinking, he shuffled through his memories of the past hour. He found that unlike the previous night, he at least remembered what had _happened_ but trying to figure out what the hell exactly he was thinking was drawing up a blank. And without the maddening haze of the heat, feeling the alpha's knot slowly emptying itself out into his ass felt... odd. Though, he hated to admit to himself, not entirely unpleasant.

"So," Gintoki drawled, trying his best to sound nonchalant, "How long are you gonna. Take."

"What?" The dark haired man looked like he was just coming out of a bit of a daze himself, though in his case it seemed to be more from the sex than some inherent biological problem.

"How long are we stuck like this now?"

"Oh. Ah-um," Like before, now that Gintoki was completely conscious Hijikata was starting to look a bit embarrassed by the whole situation. "I'm not exactly sure."

Gin blinked at him again. "What?"

"Well, it's not like I've really ever been with an omega before, and well, my knot with you is lot bigger than its been with the betas I've been with before so I guess, um, based off of that, maybe... 15 minutes? Maybe 20."

"God dammit, Mayora!" The silver haired main complained, burying his face in his arms in defeat.

"It's not like I can control it you know, permhead!"

"Yeah yeah, I get it, don't get your panties in a twist, Hijikata-kun," the omega dismissed. He sighed. Might as well get comfortable, right? Slowly, he attempted to shift his hips just a little more the the left.

"Stop that," the alpha hissed, biting his lip with restraint. At the same moment, Gin felt a particularly aggressive spurt shoot up inside of him, and his whole face cast red. "You can't- just sit still for a few damn minutes, okay? It should go down enough for you to shift positions a little soon."

"I _need_ a shower," he complained meaninglessly, burying his head in his arms once again to hide his shame. The alpha scoffed, but didn't bother to argue. Seconds ticked by, as Gin was left with nothing to do but feel the gentle rhythm of the alpha's chest rising and falling beneath him. Mustering the rest of his composure in an attempt to look unbothered, Gin met Hijikata's eyes.

"I'm bored," he informed the other man.

"And what the hell am I supposed to do about that, sugar perm? I can't move any more than you can."

"I dunno, you have a mouth, don't you, Hijikata- _kun?_ Use it."

Hijikata flushed scarlet.

"Not like like that!" Gintoki protested, giving him yet another whack upside the head. "I mean that we could have a conversation, like adults."

"Oh, yeah, right, of course, I knew that," the alpha lied, smelling like a liar.

"So." Gin began.

"So." Hijikata agreed.

Silence reigned over the room.

"C'mon, Mayora, you must have _something_ to talk about!"

"Hey, this was your bright idea, moron!"

"Sorry it's a little hard to focus with a dick up my ass!"

"Well it's harder to focus with your dick _in_ somebody's ass!"

Gintoki huffed, the breath of air tousling the curls that sat directly over his brow.

Silence.

"How exactly did you end up here, anyways?" Gintoki finally asked. "Does anyone else know about this?"

Hijikata blushed again, though lighter than before. "Um, your kids, ah, are kinda the ones that asked me to do it."

Gin's expression went flat. "What."

Hijikata took a nervous inhale. "Well, when showed up to arrest you we happened across your suppressants and so we had to explain it to them ya know, but then the China girl wanted to kidnap you to live with the yato and Sougo was being Sougo and your glasses boy was begging me to save you andthentheChinagi-"

"Stop!" Gin held up his hand. "Are you telling me my pups _asked_ you to come fuck me up the ass?"

"Don't phrase it like that, moron!" the alpha protested. "They _asked_ me to save you from being sold into the intergalactic slave trade market, it's not my fault we had to fuck to do it." He paused, casting his gaze away from the omega sprawled atop of him. "Are you... having regrets?"

Gin sighed. Was he? No, he thought. He was man with plenty of regrets in his life, but this wasn't one of them. The circumstances may not have been ideal, but this really was the best way to keep him and his kids together. Plus, he highly doubted the alpha wanted to babysit him all the time. He would probably sign some papers giving Shinpachi escort rights, and then for the most part he could continue living as he had been before his world was shattered by the suppressant crackdowns. It sucked, but thanks to Hijikata the situation could have been much worse.

"It's not perfect, but I'm alright with the way things turned out," Gin admitted. "I've made peace with worse."

Hijikata made a 'hn' of acknowledgment, probably trying to pass it off like he didn't care, but Gin could smell the relief coming off him in waves.

"You can probably move a bit now- gently!" He made sure to add before the impatient omega got any bright ideas.

"Yeah yeah I've got it, this isn't exactly comfortable for me either ya know," the omega dismissed, slowly shifting his hips back. He was relieved to find that this time nothing really happened. Hijikata did wince a little bit, but that wasn't his problem.

"I'm taking this damn thing off," Hijikata said, moving his handle to fiddle with the fastener on the collar, "The chain's cold."

Gin suppressed the whine that threatened to rise to the surface. He did _not_ like wearing the collar. Absolutely not. It was too degrading. Even if, theoretically, hypothetically, in another universe, and totally not this one, he _did_ like wearing it, the world and especially Hijikata could never know. With the collar and attached leash dropped carelessly to the floor, the rush of air on his exposed neck made him feel oddly exposed. It didn't help that the second it was gone Hijikata's eyes had zoned in on the left side of his neck. _Oh_ , he thought. The mating mark. He'd forgotten about that part.

"How's it look?"

"Huh?" The alpha shook his head free of whatever hormone ridden thoughts Gin presumed he was being plagued with. "Oh, um, it looks fine I guess?"

Gin smirked. "Just thought I'd make sure it wasn't infected or something, what with your mayo teeth and all."

"Pah, more like it's amazing I didn't get diabetes from all the sugar in your blood."

Gin put on a showy pout. "So mean, Mayora, who are you deny a poor, defenseless omega his sweets?"

"Hah! Defenseless my ass. Maybe I should fix your diet before Sougo arrests me for omega neglect."

"You mess with my sugar supply and I help him frame you," he threatened a little too seriously.

The alpha didn't dignify the threat with a response, simply offering a 'hmph!' and a roll of his eyes instead. They both paused, and Hijikata looked as though he were rolling a question over in his mind. "What are you gonna do when you get back?" He finally said.

"Hm," Gin hummed in thought, "I guess pretty much the same as I was doing before. It'll be a little irritating to have to bring Shinpachi or Hasegawa with me everywhere I go, but other than that I don't see why anything else would change."

"But what about your suppressants?"

"What about them? You'll have to get them for me of course."

"What!? I'm a cop, I'm not gonna break the law for you!"

"I mean get legal ones from the omega store, _dumbass._ "

"Oh, right." The alpha conceded dumbly. To be fair, Gin supposed, the man probably hadn't ever bothered to be in an omega store before. Maybe somehow he could con the man into paying for his suppressants to, then maybe he'd finally be able to afford a decent mea- wait. Suppressants. Hijikata- suppressants. _Hijikata found his old suppressants._

"Hijikata!" The omega exclaimed, sitting up in his excitement before he could think better of it. He felt the alpha's knot respond in turn, but he was too happy about the news to pay much attention. The alpha groaned a mixture of reluctant pleasure and blatant frustration.

"I said _stop_ moving," he hissed, "Just what the hell are you so excited about?"

"My suppressants! You said you found them! Do you have them with you!?"

"Um, yeah, they're in my coat- oh. Oh!"

"Yahoo, Gin-chan is free!" The man celebrated, barely restraining himself from wriggling around in a celebratory happy dance. "The second your damn knot goes down I'll pop one of those bad boys in and then in an hour or so I'll be free!"

"Ha, thank god for that," Hijikata agreed. "You do know this won't be your last heat though, right? The last week of legal suppressants is always placebo."

Gin's celebratory monologue came to an abrupt halt. "What?"

"What, didn't you think it was weird that Matsudaira would be giving his daughter black market suppressants? It's because he couldn't get legal ones to cover that period."

"No no no," Gin shook his head, "That can't be it, I've only ever had unmedicated heats _twice_ , I can't do this every three months."

" _Twice?_ It'd be a miracle if you were still fertile after that, dumbass! How old are you? 26? 27?"

"Hell if I know, Mayora, it's not like I've got parents to tell me my birthday. I'd figure I'm around the same as you."

"So you've been on suppressants for _ten straight years?_ "

"So what, it's not like I had a choice about it," Gin shrugged. "I've had some small bleed through heats here and there, but Kagura can't smell pheromones and Shinpachi's as beta as they come so no one ever noticed if I just said I had a cold or something."

"You were in a war surrounded by alphas for years and you're telling me no one ever noticed you were an omega? Not at all?"

Gin frowned. He didn't like to talk about the war, and he especially didn't like to talk about being an omega in the war. "Zura knows. He's got some kind of familial imprint thing on me apparently, it's what happens when you're around an alpha in heat so long without mating. Basically our instincts decided that it must mean we're family, so now he has a weird protective thing about me."

Gin grimaced. There wasn't anyone around who could make him feel as coddled as Zura. Sometimes it almost seemed like he should be the omega and not him. "The fact that I'm not in his pack drives him crazy, but despite what you may think I'm not really looking to be a terrorist."

"What about the rest of the Joi Four? Like Takasugi?"

Gin wriggled around a bit in response and found that by his measure the knot should be down enough for him to slip off without much difficulty. He wasn't liking this conversation anymore. "The bastard knows more than I'd like," he said as his only response, ignoring the hiss from the alpha as he lifted himself off of the man's cock. A flush rose to his cheeks as he did his best to ignore the rush of cum and slick clearly leaking out of his ass at its absence. Rolling over to the right, he quickly located Hijikata's jacket at the center of his nest and fished out the familiar bottle of pills. He debated taking both now to really flush his system out, but figured he should probably keep one on hand in case they didn't get to an omega store before his next dose was due. The last thing he needed was to start this entire process over again from scratch like that. "I'm gonna pop one of those damn pills and go wash all this shit off me."

"Hn, do whatever you want. Just do it before your damn pheromones start going off and we end up stuck in this nest again."

"Tch, you're the one that wanted me in it so bad," he complained, gritting his teeth as he slowly stood from the bed. He his legs were sore, his abs were sore, and his ass was _sore._ He stumbled to the table, pointedly not acknowledging the alpha snickering behind him. Even he had to admit that his drunken gait must look funny from an outside perspective, but he was in pain, dammit! He continued to mumble complaints to himself, and he found himself struggling not to immediately collapse once he was on the other side of the door to the small bathroom attached to their unit.

"The universe really does hate me, huh?" He asked under his breath, fidgeting with the unfamiliar bath controls. Taking a bath or shower in an unfamiliar place was always way more difficult to figure out than it should be. He took a second to observe himself in the mirror while hot water rushed to fill the small, Japanese style tub. His silver hair was a tousled mess, he was pretty sure there was still a bit of cum on his lip, and deep bruising was settling in around the small holes in his neck that signified the mating mark. All in all, he looked like he'd stepped straight out of some alpha's wet dream.

"Nice going, Gintoki," he muttered as the finality of the situation settled in on him. "You really are fucked."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this is a long one, sorry about that guys! Took me forever to find a decent place to end it lol. Hope y'all enjoyed it nonetheless!!


	8. Chapter 8

Hijikata watched the door close behind the still naked omega and realized suddenly that he had a lot to process. Getting a good read on him was proving... difficult.

He'd thought maybe they were almost getting along for a bit there, but the second he touched on the war Gin had clamped up and fled before his knot could even go down all the way. Which, he had to admit, was his own fault really. The man may not show it, but if he thought about it Hijikata supposed there was no way a man could spend years in brutal war and come out trauma free.

On top of that, he still wasn't fully convinced that the omega was okay with the way things had turned out. Sure, he had consented beforehand, and he hadn't even seemed that out of it the last time they'd had sex but maybe he just didn't notice? The omega said he was fine with what had happened, but the man was prideful and stubborn as hell to boot. What if he had regrets and just didn't want to admit such weakness to the Shinsengumi Vice-Chief?

Still, he was almost a little disappointed that the heat was over so soon, though he would never admit that to anyone else. To think _Gintoki_ of all people would have such a strong omega gene was more than a little surprising, to say the least. He was the kind of omega that got bought by shoguns and kings, and that's without the fact that he was the Shiroyasha on top of it all. Hijikata was on the upper end of alpha hierarchy to be sure, but he was nowhere near the kind of caliber that usually ended up with a man like Gintoki. Hell, even Sougo was more alpha than him.

In the other room he heard the rush of water filling the tub, but the omega himself was stone silent aside from the occasional shuffle of movement. Eventually there was a splash as the man presumably entered the water, leaving Hijikata alone in the room for the first time since he'd arrived. Without the stimulation of Gintoki's presence, the rest of his knot deflated rather quickly, leaving even more mess in its wake. With a stretch, he decided the first course of action was to get himself out of this disgusting bed. Though the room was still swimming with the stench of their respective pheromones, he was sober enough that the reality of the mess was settling in on him and he found himself considerably less willing to sit naked in a pool of bodily fluids than he was before.

Climbing out of the ruined bedding, he made his way over the the small dining area to actually properly assess the usefulness of the box left behind by the woman. As much as he hated to admit, and in spite of what Gin might say, there may be some useful things in there besides just omega toys. Even the collar was technically useful- well, for more than what they'd already used it for. The town they were currently in was one of many with omega leash laws, and it wasn't exactly like he made it a habit to walk around carrying fetish gear like Sougo.

His first glance into the box revealed mostly meal bars and water, as he'd expected. He noticed with a twinge of amusement that sandwiched between those two things, as though it had equally as much of a right to be there, was a ball gag. He snorted. If only he'd found that earlier, huh? As Gin had suspected, most of the other things in the box were various omega toys of which Hijikata couldn't even imagine the purpose for half, and there were no morning after pills. Through the gaps in the items he could see some fabric folded at the bottom, which he hoped were at least clothes they could put the omega in.

Pushing most of the more deranged items to the side so he could get a better grip, he yanked the soft blue fabric out and held it up for inspection. The fabric unfurled naturally, revealing what was mostly a standard men's yukata, but with ridiculous sleeves that billowed damn near to the ground. If he looked inside the box again, he was sure he's find a longer than average (for a man's) obi as well. He snickered, and then outright laughed. They had given them "omega clothes", something Hijikata encountered so rarely he'd honestly forgotten that they existed.

Though they were still men, the fact that they could give birth, along with their general temperaments, led to many alphas and, admittedly, people in general tending to feminize male omegas. Another look inside the box revealed his suspicions to be correct, as a maroon omega's obi stared innocently back up at him. From what he could tell they were the only clothes included in the box, which meant that if the omega had a problem with them then he was shit out of luck.

"What's so funny, Mayora?" Gintoki complained, poking a damp head cautiously out of the bathroom door.

"Oh nothing," Hijikata began. He smirked, flipping the over-the-top garment so the Gin could clearly see what it is, "Just seems like the old lady thought you could stand to be dolled up is all."

The omega's mouth quirked into a deep frown on sight. "Omega clothes? Really?"

"Just be glad you get to wrap your own obi. If she had been doing it I'm sure it'd be tied up in a nice pretty bow." The mental image made him snicker.

"Why don't you wear them if it's so not a problem then, Oogushi-kun?" The omega huffed. He seemed to be done in the bath already, toweling himself off as he stepped out. It was hard to tell through all the smells still clouding the air, but the suppressants seemed to be taking effect. In heat there was no way he wouldn't smell at least a little like an omega to alpha noses, even through the strongest suppressants, but most of the more physical symptoms of the heat would go away.

" _I'm_ not the omega here," Hijikata protested, "Besides, I'm pretty sure I've seen you cross dress at least twice."

"That's different!" The omega disagreed, ripping the offending item from the man's hands and holding it up to inspect for himself. He sighed, expression resigned. He had a feeling there was more in depth answer here that the omega was choosing not to touch on, though he had no idea what it was. He was aquiescing to avoid revealing something. "Oh well. There's nothing we can do about it if that's what we have."

Methodically, the way a soldier gets dressed, Gin pulled on the ridiculous yukata and fished the maroon obi out of the box. Much like the collar, Hijikata noted in the back of his mind that it matched the omega's eyes. The excess length compared to a typical men's obi meant he ended up having to tie it with a bow after all, but in true Gintoki style he tied it loose and hanging down rather than the stiff, meticulously arranged presentations usually seen on women and omega's obis. Along the same vein, the yukata itself was wrapped fairly loose, leaving the it to hang open around the upper portion of his chest. While nowhere near as revealing as most omegas were made to wear theirs, it was still enough that the mating mark sat clearly visible on his neck, now purple around the edges with bruising. If he was being honest, he looked... good. Really good.

"She didn't give you anything?" The omega asked, oblivious to the the distress his appearance was causing for the alpha. "Honestly, is it just _expected_ that you would rip my clothes off and not vice-versa? No respect for poor Gin-chan," he mock complained. Halting, he sniffed the air once, then twice. Shifting his weight from one foot to the other and shot the alpha a cautious expression. "Now now Hijikata- _kun,_ my heat's pretty much over, no reason to be smelling like that over poor Gin-chan, though he is of course very sexy-"

Hijikata cut the man off with an exaggerated scoff. "PAH! What? You must be smelling one of the smells still left in the air from earlier, perm head. Who the hell'd be turned on by you in those girly clothes." Him. Definitely him. And, if he had to wager a guess, about 99% of other alphas too. The omega shot him a flat look. "And even if you did smell something new, it's because of all the leftover heat smells in the air, okay! Not because you made a wardrobe change."

"Sure, _Alpha,"_ the omega mocked. "I'm definitely not filing 'Hijikata thinks I look hot in omega clothes' away as information to have for later. Glad we could clear up the misunderstanding." Gin's entire face by this point had broken out into a shit eating grin, and Hijikata comfortably grasped onto the irritation it stirred up within him. It was much more familiar and a hell of a lot more comfortable than whatever was happening a second ago at least.

"Not all of us are on black market hormone suppressants, ya perm head! And besides, to most people it'd be considered weirder if I _wasn't_ reacting to an omega in heat with half of his chest hanging out. It's not very effective blackmail."

"Who said it was blackmail?" The omega teased, blinking with exaggerated innocence. "Maybe I just want to seduce you, Oogushi-kun."

Hijikata struggled to keep down a blush. He knew the omega was just making fun of him, but damn if some part of him didn't think that sounded nice right about now. "Yeah right, I bet you're selling that information to Sougo the second we're back in Edo, it's not like you've ever made your money honestly before so why start now."

"Hey listen here, tax thief, odd jobs are perfectly honest work a lot of the time!"

So he didn't deny that it wasn't honest _all_ the time. He didn't even say most. Hijikata groaned internally. And now, in the eyes of the law, all of the Odd Jobs shenanigans were gonna reflect back on him. He really might go gray before 40 at this rate.

"And besides, I'm not even allowed to have a bank account anymore, so it's your dirty money now, so there." The omega huffed, folding his arms. Standing there all irritated and dolled up in omega clothes, he really did look like somebody's nagging wife. Though the omega did raise a good point about their new finances. He had forgotten about that entirely.

The standard for an omega who was found without ownership was for all of their possessions to be transferred to the ownership of their new alpha. He was pretty sure Gin was paid almost if not entirely in cash so he didn't have to worry about allocating money for the man like an allowance every month. What that did mean, however, was that the omega's notoriously missing rent was now his problem.

"Whatever. I'm gonna go rinse off myself and then let's get out of this joint." The alpha sighed, not looking forward to travelling such a long way with the whiney omega in tow. In all fairness, the man was still in heat, and if his gait said anything, he was pretty... sore. So for once his complaining was a little justified. "I'd like to sleep in my own bed tonight."

"Hn, you're not the only one, Mayora, but as much as I'd like to get away from your suffocating mayo scent as fast as possible we still need to go to the omega store first."

"Can't that wait until tomorrow?" The alpha complained, meandering over to the bathroom that Gintoki had just stepped out of.

"I'm sorry, do you _want_ me to go into heat again?" Gin challenged, placing his hands firmly onto his hips. The alpha scowled, pausing halfway through opening the bathroom door. Steam rushed out of the small room, still left from Gin's earlier bath, accompanied in equal droves by the man's scent, though less tainted by heat than the alpha had smelled since he got there. He realized that this was probably the closest he had ever come to smelling Gin's natural, baseline scent and he was confused to realize that he... didn't hate it. In fact, it was still one of the best damn smells he'd ever encountered. Was it just because he was an omega? Was it because of the mating mark?

Across the room, Gin's nose twitched, and Hijikata watched as the omega's eyes reflexively drifted downwards. There was silence for a moment, and when Gin looked up an arrogant smirk was in place. "Or maybe you do, huh, Mayora? Sorry, Gin-chan isn't interested in v-banged mayo addicts or tax thieves."

Hijikata growled. "Hah! More like you're not interested in not being able to walk for a week, you butt hurt perm."

The silverette gasped in outrage. "You try walking around after having a rod jammed up your ass over and over again! After having something the size of a fucking tennis ball sit in your ass for 20 minutes!"

The alpha just smirked. "I'll never know," he mocked, ignoring the omegas stream of curses as he opted instead to make the rest of his way into the bathroom, closing the door softly behind him. He allowed himself one more sigh directed at pretty much every aspect of his life right now, and promptly opted for a military style quick, efficient shower instead of a bath. He wanted back home and pretending this whole mess had never happened as soon as possible. He was relieved to find the small bathroom at least had two toothbrushes and a small tube of toothpaste, so maybe he wouldn't smell like a complete wreck by the time they got out of this place. Plus, there were towels in the room to boot, and he quickly wrapped one around his waist. He didn't need a repeat of earlier if his body decided to respond to Gin's smell again before he could manage to get his pants on.

He emerged from the bathroom max about 10 minutes later, only to find Gintoki rummaging through the box with a very unimpressed look on his face. "A ball gag? Really?" The omega complained, holding up the offending item. "They could have at least given us an o-ring."

"Are they better?" Hijikata ventured to ask, though he was fully ready to be sassed in response. As much as he hated to acknowledge it, the fact hadn't changed that Gintoki was pretty much required to have heats every three months now unless he managed to find another underground suppressant dealer that he could actually afford. Chances were, they would end up having sex again, at least during the man's heats, and in that case they might as well make the most of it. As odd as it may be considered for an alpha of his age, Hijikata still really didn't know almost anything about omegas, or more importantly Gin himself. The omega scoffed.

"C'mon, Hijikata-kun, have you really never read an omega mag before? At least S&M?" The omega tsk'd in judgement. "Not that I exactly have a lot of personal experience, but I still have preferences. Rings are... more versatile." He punctuated the statement with a suggestive wag of his brow.

The alpha just gave him a flat expression. "I don't understand."

Gin cocked one hip to the side, resting his hand on it delicately. In his other hand he twirled the gag around on his fingers, an unimpressed expression etched firmly into place. "Really, Hijikata-kun, do you have an imagination or did you sell that to the bafuku too along with your soul? Why do you _think_ it's more versatile to have gag with a hole in it?"

A blush began to creep up the man's face. It couldn't be- the omega couldn't be suggesting?

"It's for your dumb alpha dick, mayo brain." The omega blinked, seemingly caught off guard by the implications of his own statement. "Like, any dumb alpha dick, not yours specifically, Oogushi-kun, with anyone, so don't go getting any delusions of grandeur on poor little Gin-chan now."

"I got that!" The alpha protested, though the implication wasn't missed on him either. Maybe the omega really was interested in blowjobs? He elected to take that as a positive sign that maybe the omega wasn't as upset over their encounter as he was worried he may be.

"I bet you don't even know what half of these things are," the omega continued, carelessly dumping the rest of the box contents over the table. "You have the sexual adventurousness of a 40 year old woman."

"Again, it's not like I thought this would ever be relevant, you know! I'm not exactly the type of guy who buys omegas."

Gin's gaze softened just enough to almost escape his notice. "No," he agreed. "You're not."

With that the omega yawned, stretching his arms up over his head as he avoided Hijikata's gaze in favor of turning his back and plopping down on one of the chairs surrounding the small table. He was rifled through the remains of his yukata and retrieved his wallet, which he elected to store, after staring at his roomy sleeves at a loss a moment, tucked into the back of his obi. Standing, he fished his discarded bokuto off the ground and slid it into his obi. "You should go ahead and get dressed," he said, breaking the silence. "We have a long trip ahead of us, and I'm sure the kiddos are waiting to give me a good ear full when I come back for leaving them."

"As they should," the man derided, grateful for the change of topic. Something about the atmosphere when Gin had said that had become... strange. Tense, somehow. He moved to the bed now, where all of his clothes were still precisely arranged, intermingled with a couple things of Gin's. It was all a little rumpled, which he normally wouldn't stand for, but it was otherwise no worse for wear. "No wonder you've always been such a mom with them. That at least makes sense now."

"I'm not their mom!" Gin protested, though there was no real effort to make it sound true. "And besides, even the best suppressants can't wipe away _everything_."

"You know the legal stuff isn't going to be anywhere near the strength you're used to, right? You might have some new instincts pop up that you aren't used to."

"I doubt I'll have anything pop up worse than the ones you've already seen today. Anything else I'll deal with."

Fair enough, the alpha supposed, shrugging on his jacket. The omega's worried glances at the dismantling of his nest made his stomach churn, but neither of them had the luxury of waiting around for Gin not to care about it anymore. Once all of his things were removed and on, all that was pretty much left behind were the omega's lavender obi and oversized red scarf. "You should take this," He said, holding the red fabric towards the omega in offering. He glanced towards the window. "It's still snowing out there and that outfit doesn't exactly look warm."

"It's not," the omega agreed, accepting the scarf. "Not that they care. As far as they're concerned I'm supposed to be pretty, not comfortable."

"Weird to hear you describe yourself as pretty," he commented, though now that he thought about it he couldn't really disagree. Though maybe cute was a slightly more accurate word for him, with his fluffy head and thick lashes. Even his drooped eyes were rounded at the edges, relaxed as ever. For all that he may call them dead fish eyes to his face, he could admit to himself now that they were kind of cute, in a sleepy sort of way. He snorted to himself. Somehow he had a feeling the omega would be less receptive to that word than he was to pretty. Gin just shrugged.

"If it lets people underestimate me then I don't really mind. If people realize that you're competent than they start expecting things from you and that's a pain."

"I guess that's not a surprise to hear from a bum like you," he sighed, reluctantly picking up the collar from the floor. Like a flipped switch, maroon eyes flashed over to his hands immediately. It was a gaze full of anticipation, though he wasn't sure what kind. Like- almost like he was being tested to see what he would do next? Not for the first time he thought Gin looked very... predatory for an omega. He cleared his throat. "Um, this city has leash laws, so..." he trailed off, not sure quite sure what to do next. Gin didn't move.

"Um. So here," he finished, holding out the offending item towards the stiff omega who had been so nonchalantly lounging back against the table only moments before.

The omegas eyes cut down into his outstretched hand for what was, by Hijikata's standards, a little to long for comfort. For a breath, neither man said anything. Then the shiroyasha blinked and the odd change in the atmosphere lifted just as quickly as it had settled. "...Fine. But I'm throwing this thing in the garbage the second we get back to Kabukicho."

"Are you really just never going to never leave Kabukicho again? What if there's an emergency?" It was true that Kabukicho didn't have the same restrictive leash laws as many other parts of Edo, being a lawless red light district as it was, but he really couldn't plan to just never leave again, could he?

"What? No, moron, I just don't plan to keep using a collar given to me by sex traffickers. We can get a new one at the omega store."

Hijikata had to admit that something in him was pleased at the sentiment. His omega should be wearing a collar that he bought for him, not the damn mimawarigumi. He should- wait. He pulled a sour face. What the hell did it matter to him what fabric Gintoki decided to wear around his neck? He watched with rapt attention as the omega wrapped on the collar, fumbling at the fastener with pale fingers. Just below the place where the bottom edge of the collar sat, the lower part of the mating mark was still visible, deep bruises highlighting the clean teeth marks. He found himself holding back from licking his lips. What the hell was happening?

"Hijikata-kun, Hijikata-k _uuuuun_ ," the omega whined, waving his hand around directly in front of the alpha's face. "No time to be having manly alpha wet dreams about Gin-san's sweet neck, I'm ready to go home and drink until I forget any of this ever happened."

"Ch," he managed, shaking his head to knock off the trance, "You're not the only one."

"Here," Gin said, handing over the end of the leash not attached to the collar, "And don't be weird about it. We're both just doing what we have to. You're not a bad guy just because you can't stop being an alpha. In fact, you're a goody two shoes to the core. It's sickening."

Damn. He hated how the man could just do that- see through him like it was no big deal. In fact, he did it with almost everyone he came across really. Was this the empathic nature of an omega? Was it just Gin being Gin? Or maybe it was a little of both.

"Whatever, brat," he dismissed, giving the leash an impatient tug. "Let's just get going already."

Gin glared at the offending chain, but followed nonetheless. "Should we stop to beat up an old lady on the way out?" He suggested casually, wrapping the scarf over top the collar as they stepped out. Something in Hijikata didn't like to see his mate covering the mark he'd left on him like that, but the rational part of his mind stubbornly shut those parts out. "Maybe castrate a certain Mimawarigumi officer?"

Hijikata barked a wry laugh. For once he wasn't entirely unsympathetic to Gin's casual impulse for crime. "I'm sure that guy got sent straight back to headquarters the second he got in an altercation with me. Technically the whole front operation is legal so there's not much I can do about that, but I should be able to get him kicked off the force if I push hard enough." A blind eye gets turned to a lot that happens in omega operations, but considering his position he figured he should be able to do _something_. "Though I doubt I'll be able to get him a sepukku order to boot like I would do if one of my men were doing something that despicable."

To make matters worse, the Mimawarigumi's reputation as "elites" meant that a significant number of them had omegas themselves, as opposed to the Shinsengumi where he was pretty sure at most a couple of them might be mated to their childhood sweethearts. Which was fine by him- the last thing he needed was half his force missing all the time because someone or another's wife was in heat that week. But that also meant that unlike the Shinsengumi, most of the higher ranking members of the Mimawarigumi were in line with traditional alpha views of omegas as things to be used rather than people.

Gin made a vague hum of agreement. Both of their eyes flickered to the front desk as they moved through the sham lobby, and he found himself a little disappointed that the old lady was nowhere to be found. Though, if he thought he'd participated in the sex trafficking of the famed Demon Vice-Chief's intended mate he guessed he'd make himself scarce too.

Stepping outside, Hijikata fidgeted with the leash in his hands. What was the normal way for someone to hold a leash connected to a person? During sex was one thing, but just walking around outside he suddenly felt self-conscious. Plus, in a smaller town like this there was no way a uniformed alpha parading around with an albino omega clearly still in the last stages of heat was going to go unnoticed.

The snow outside crunched beneath his shoes and the omega's boots, falling in time with each other along with a silence Hijikata would almost call companionable. He'd checked his watch just before they headed out, so he knew it was somewhere around 7 in the morning. Hopefully if they kept pace they could get back to Edo, go to the omega store, and get Gintoki registered at the omega center before nightfall. He couldn't think if any reason his claim would be denied, but getting everything on paper as fast as possible would help him relax. He would hate to have gone through all this trouble only for the omega to end up some rich bastard's broodmare anyways.

Thankfully the early hour meant the town wasn't too crowded just yet, though the handful of people that were there turned their heads as they passed. Something in him, probably the part that still smelled the heat on Gintoki and recognized him as his mate, was displeased by all the eyes on _his_ omega. Subtly, hoping that Gin wouldn't notice, he relaxed his normally tight control over his pheromones just enough to remind everyone that this was conquered territory. Move along, he willed his scent to say, there's nothing here for you.

If Gintoki noticed the new threat in the air he didn't say anything, and before he knew it they'd made it safely to the train station. Normally it would be bad news to bring an omega on a crowded train car so fresh out of heat, but with the combination of his agitated pheromones and being a little showier about the sword on his hip than usual, no one else entered their car for the time being. Just in case things picked up as they got closer to the morning rush hour, he made sure to send Yamazaki a text to pick them up in a car about halfway. If everything went according to plan, it would be smooth sailing from now to Edo. Sighing, he shot the omega on the seat beside him a weary glance. Then again, when was anything ever smooth sailing when it came to Gintoki Sakata?


End file.
